of  Montana 

A  Serious  Story  for 
Free  People 


By 

Jerre  C,  Murphy 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 

MR.    GEORGE   COBB 


'       ~.K4-*"^ 


CLe^ix.^ 


THE  COMICAL  HISTORY 
OF  MONTANA 

A  SERIOUS  STORY  FOR  FREE  PEOPLE 


4 
BY 

JERRE  C.  MURPHY 


Full  Buckram  Binding,  $2.00 
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Address,  E.  L.  SCOF1ELD,  Publisher 
Ingle  Building  San  Diego,  Calif. 


THE  COMICAL  HISTORY 
OF  MONTANA 

A  SERIOUS  STORY 
FOR  FREE  PEOPLE 

Being  an  Account  of  the  Conquest  of  America's  Treas- 
ure State  by  Alien  Corporate  Combine,  the  Con- 
fiscation of  its  Resources,  the  Subjugation  of 
its  People,  and  the  Corruption  of  Free 
Government  to  the  uses  of  Lawless 
Enterprise  and  Organized  Greed 
employed  in  "Big  Business." 


BY 

JERRE  C.  MURPHY 


"All  History,  whether  M'Croudy  and  his  Fine  Arts  know 
the  fact  or  not,  is  an  inarticulate  bible  ;  and  in  dim,  intricate 
manner  reveals  the  Divine  Appearances  in  this  lower  world. 
For  God  did  make  this  world,  and  does  forever  govern  it.  The 
loud-roaring  Loom  of  Time,  with  all  its  French  revolutions, 
Jewish  revelations,  'weaves  the  vesture  thou  seest  Him  by'. 
There  is  no  Biography  of  a  man,  much  less  any  History,  or 
Biography  of  a  Nation,  but  wraps  in  it  a  message  out  of  Heaven, 
addressed  to  the  hearing  ear  or  to  the  not-hearing.  What  this 
Universe  is,  what  the  Laws  of  God  are,  the  Life  of  every  man 
will  a  little  teach  it  you  ;  the  Life  of  All  Men  and  of  All  Things, 
only  this  could  wholly  teach  it  you — and  you  are  to  be  open 
to  learn."  —Thomas  Carlyle 


E.  L.  SCOFIELD,  PUBLISHER 

SAN  DIEGO,  CALIFORNIA 

1912 


Copyright,   1912,   By   Jerre   C.    Murphy, 
All  Rights  Reserved. 


PRKSS   OF 

FRYE   &   SMITH 

SAN   DIBOO,  CAL, 


TO  THE 

BOYS  OF  AMERICAN  CITIZENS, 

WITH  A  HOPE  THAT  IT  MAY  HELP  THEM  TO  MAKE 

BETTER  MEN  OF  THEIR  FATHERS, 

THIS  WORK  IS  SOLEMNLY  DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Early  Days  and  Heroic  Ways 1 

The  Blessing  and  the  Curse  of  Gold 13 

In  the  Times  of  the  Feudal  Wars 19 

Of  Pioneer    State    Leaders    and    Modern  Ab- 
sentee Bosses 29 

Hie  Campaign  for  Monopoly  Control 43 

Some  Field  Marshals  of  Napoleons  of  Finance.  .    55 

A  Public  Press  to  Suppress  Publicity 73 

Subjugation  of  Wage-Earners 93 

Governmental  Functions  of  a  Wall  Street  Com- 
bine in  a  Sovereign  State 109 

How   Lawmakers,  Governors  and  Lesser  Of- 
ficials Are  Chosen  and  Confirmed 131 

The  Selection  of  Judges  and  the  Direction  of 

Courts.     Part  1 153 

The  Selection  of  Judges  and  the  Direction  of 

Courts.   Part   II 171 

Where  Trial  by  Jury  is  a  Farce,  and  Why 185 

The  Celebrated  Case  of  Farmer  vs.  Combine.  .201 
"A     Constitution     Between     Friends" — State 
Laws  to  Legalize  Lawless  Interstate  Com- 
bines   223 


Page 

Relief  from  Taxation  for  Monopolists 245 

Shut-Down  Scares  in  Practical  Use 255 

The   Grabbing   of   Water   Power   and   Public 

Utilities    265 

Wild-Cat  Era  in  Banking  and  Stockjobbing.  .  .273 
Losses  to  Public,  to  Industry,  and  to  Invest- 
ment, Through  Combine  Enterprise 297 

A  City  Under  Combine  Rule;  Anaconda  for 

Example    309 

An  Awakening  People  and  Signs  of  Revolution. 321 


Early  Days  and  Heroic  Ways 

The  first  successful  uplift  movement  in  Montana  was 
conceived  and  accomplished  by  the  Vigilantes.  Crude 
in  plan  and  rude  in  performance,  there  was  an  uprising 
which  destroyed  the  last  doubt  in  lawless  minds  with  re- 
spect to  the  efficiency  of  government  "of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  for  the  people".  It  demonstrated  that  absence 
of  law  afforded  no  excuse  for  crime,  and  gave  security 
to  life  and  property  without  increase  of  taxation.  In 
some  of  the  valleys  where  the  Vigilantes  rode,  less  than 
half  a  century  ago,  land  now  has  a  market  value  of  as 
much  as  one  thousand  dollars  per  acre  for  orchard  home 
uses,  but  the  most  profitable  crop  which  ever  hung  from 
Montana  trees  was  in  the  gruesome  forms  of  dead  out- 
laws. Then  and  there  was  implanted  a  respect  for  the 
penalties  of  wrong-doing  and  a  regard  for  the  rights 
of  others  which  has  endured  against  the  insidious  in- 
fluence of  wholesale  corruption,  and  the  most  subtle 
encroachments  upon  the  powers  of  government,  to  the 
present  time.  It  is  today  more  dangerous  in  the  state 
of  Montana  to  steal  a  horse  than  to  loot  a  bank  or  to 
bribe  a  legislative  majority,  chiefly  because  the  Vigi- 
lantes failed  to  furnish  a  precedent  in  justice  for  bank- 
looting  and  legislative  corruption  as  they  did  for  horse 
thieving;  while  later  administrators  of  justice,  in  the 
approved  manner  of  courts,  have  regarded  precedent 
and  form  and  ceremony  above  the  purpose  of  the  law 
and  the  effect  of  justice.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Vigi- 
lantes themselves  were  lawless  and  inspired  to  action 
solely  with  regard  to  the  one  first  law  of  self  defense; 

[i] 


2  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

also  that  so  much  may  be  truthfully  asserted  in  excuse 
for  judges  of  later  times  who  have  tipped  the  scales  of 
blind  justice  in  weighing  the  differences  between  the 
common  rights  of  men  and  the  special  privileges  of  cor- 
poration managers.  The  facts  of  this  history  will  at 
least  tend  to  show  that  in  some  parts  of  this  great 
American  state,  during  long  period  of  time,  judges  upon 
the  bench  could  not  do  otherwise  than  they  did  and 
continue  to  be  judges.  Thus  the  right  of  recall  of  judges 
in  Montana,  federal  and  state,  has  existed  for  many 
years,  chiefly  vested  in  the  officers  or  agents  of  foreign 
corporations,  without  the  aid  or  consent  of  any  "mob" 
or  "multitude"  whatsoever. 

Any  approximately  accurate  history  of  the  state  of 
Montana  must  be  in  large  part  a  story  of  modern 
feudalism.  Almost  through  its  entirety  it  must  tell 
of  the  conflict  of  rival  influences  and  interests  made 
paramount  to  the  public  interests  of  the  state,  or  to  the 
interests  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  within  the 
state.  "Big  business",  real  and  legitimate,  was  a  pro- 
duct of  individual  effort  and  enterprise  in  the  territory 
from  which  this  state  was  formed  before  it  became  a 
state,  and  before  the  significance  of  the  power  of  such 
business  was  widely  comprehended  or  danger  from  the 
exercise  of  such  power  was  much  apprehended  in  the 
industrial  centers  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The 
influence  of  great  wealth  came  to  a  number  of  men  from 
the  gold  fields  of  the  earliest  days.  There  were  copper 
kings  and  silver  lords  in  Montana  while  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  was  young  and  among  competitors  and 
before  trusts  with  monopoly  design  existed.  In  any 
other  than  a  Treasure  State,  the  cattle  and  sheep  men 
of  Montana,  whose  herds  and  flocks  roamed  over  the 
public  domain,  would  have  been  men  of  exceptional  in- 


EARLY    DAYS    AND    HEROIC    WAYS  3 

fiuence,  and  by  virtue  of  possessions  were  easily  en- 
titled to  rank  with  the  pine  barons  of  any  of  the  timber 
states  of  those  times. 

The  immensity  and  variety  of  the  resources  of  this 
vast  territory  are  not  yet  more  than  guessed  at  by  those 
most  familiar  with  the  state.  In  1910  there  were  twenty 
million  acres  in  forest  reserves  in  Montana;  and  of  the 
eighty-three  million  acres  outside  these  reserves  fully 
thirteen  million  acres  never  had  been  surveyed  by  state 
or  federal  government.  The  fertile  valleys  which  Lewis 
and  Clark  traversed  in  their  perilous  journey  of  dis- 
covery across  this  country  more  than  one  hundred  years 
ago  remain  today  in  large  part  the  virgin  soil  as  when 
observed  by  them,  not  yet  cultivated  nor  utilized  by 
others  than  prospectors  for  precious  minerals  or  stock 
growers  upon  the  public  domain.  Here  is  the  third  state 
in  the  union  in  expanse  of  area,  with  the  greatest  wealth 
of  water  for  power  and  irrigation  uses  of  all  the  states, 
with  diversity  of  soil  and  climate  which  makes  possible 
a  profitable  production  of  almost  limitless  varieties  of 
grains  and  fruits,  with  resources  in  timber  of  inestimable 
value,  and  with  wealth  of  mineral  so  great  and  in  so 
much  variety  that  all  but  the  more  precious  metals  are 
largely  neglected.  Immense  fields  of  discovered  coal 
and  iron  lie  undeveloped  awaiting  the  time  when  cost 
of  production  and  transportation  will  warrant  their  use, 
notwithstanding  that  four  trans-continental  railway 
systems  now  cross  the  state  and  that  the  high  prices  of 
fuel  and  of  the  products  of  iron  are  without  precedent 
throughout  the  land.  Add  to  these  natural  material 
means  of  prosperity,  charms  of  scenery  and  environment 
unexcelled  to  promote  happy  and  healthful  existence, 
and  there  remains  the  marvelous  fact  that  the  popula- 
tion of  the  state  in  1910,  after  twenty-one  years  exist- 


4  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

ence  as  a  state,  was  only  376,053  people,  including  In- 
dians not  taxed.  Such  dearth  of  population  amid  such 
abundance  of  resource  requires  explanation.  This  is 
afforded  in  part  by  the  very  magnitude  of  opportunity. 
Prospective  settlers  seeking  location  would  naturally 
hesitate  to  place  their  habitations  where  the  nearest 
neighbor  might  be  a  day's  journey  away,  even  if  the 
great  extent  of  unsettled  country  did  not  for  long  time 
indicate  barren  soil  or  other  insuperable  obstacle  to 
agricultural  success.  For  many  years  the  belief  that 
irrigation  was  the  first  essential  to  profitable  farming  in 
the  west,  with  the  heavy  expense  attached  to  extensive 
irrigation  projects,  served  to  delay  the  taking  up  of  the 
land.  Until  quite  recent  years  the  belief  that  the  coun- 
try was  unfit  for  other  uses  than  stock  ranges  was  culti- 
vated by  stock  growers  who  ruled  in  more  than  one-half 
of  the  commonwealth  territory.  High  wages  in  mines 
and  smelters  for  a  long  period  offered  superior  attrac- 
tions to  industry  as  compared  with  the  making  of  a  farm 
remote  from  market.  This  condition  assisted  in  delay- 
ing settlement.  The  supremacy  of  control  by  mining 
interests  helped  to  the  same  result.  The  fierce  conflicts 
between  the  mining  kings,  and  the  wholesale  corrup- 
tions and  scandals  growing  out  of  them,  did  not  invite 
new  farm  settlers  or  greatly  attract  men  ambitious  along 
the  lines  of  good  citizenship.  Finally,  the  era  of  consol- 
idation turned  the  ownership  and  profits  of  the  chief 
developed  mineral  wealth  of  the  state  over  to  non-resi- 
dents. The  new  owners  extended  their  control  to  the 
timber,  the  water  power,  the  banking  interests,  public 
utilities  in  cities,  merchandizing,  the  public  press,  legis- 
lative, administrative  and  other  branches  of  government, 
including  the  taxing  power;  and  in  some  places  schools, 
churches  and  cemeteries  were  included  in  the  properties 


EARLY    DAYS    AND    HEROIC    WAYS  5 

dedicated  to  exploitation  in  the  national  field  of  stock- 
jobbing through  over-capitalization,  and  were  made 
mere  tokens  in  the  game  of  Wall  Street  speculation  as 
played  by  promoters  of  wild-cat  enterprise. 

There  were  heroic  ways  in  the  early  days  which  left 
their  impress  on  the  state.  There  was  pride  of  state 
even  when  civic  righteousness  appeared  wholly  lacking 
in  leadership.  There  was  incentive  to  effort  and  reward 
for  achievement  by  individuals  in  the  times  and  condi- 
tions which  developed  men  like  Clark  and  Daly  from 
mining,  and  men  like  Sanders  and  Toole  in  professional 
life.  The  man  who  not  only  believed  that  a  horse  thief 
should  be  hung  but  who  had  assisted  in  hanging  him 
was  quite  likely  to  be  a  man  of  integrity  in  ordinary 
business  dealings.  Mining  claims  sometimes  were  trans- 
ferred by  verbal  agreement,  and  in  some  instances  these 
agreements  were  forgotten  to  be  revived  and  respected 
years  later,  when  the  mining  development  of  the  dis- 
trict had  made  the  properties  worth  independent  fortunes 
which  could  have  been  secured  by  the  verbal  trader 
through  mere  denial  of  agreement.  Whatever  may  be 
said  of  the  moral  effect  of  such  contests,  there  was  noth- 
ing mean  or  small  about  men  who  unhesitatingly  ex- 
pended millions  of  dollars  in  efforts  to  locate  the  state 
capital  in  the  particular  city  which  they  favored.  The 
late  Daniel  Hennessy,  who  attained  the  position  of  the 
head  of  the  Hennessy  Mercantile  Company  from  a  clerk- 
ship, and  who  in  that  position  extended  credit  to  thous- 
ands of  people  during  a  long  term  of  years,  is  authority 
for  the  statement  that  there  never  was  any  risk  in  trust- 
ing a  Butte  miner  without  assignment  of  wages  prior 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Amalgamated-Heinze  war.  The 
profits  as  well  as  the  costs  of  mining  remained  within 
the  state  in  greater  part,  and  the  rivalry  of  the  owners 


6  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

reached  to  the  spending  of  profits  as  well  as  in  the  mak- 
ing of  them.  Fortunes  were  acquired  by  men  in  mercantile 
and  professional  life,  and  many  men  employed  in  the 
mines  on  wages,  owned  their  homes,  educated  their 
families,  and  were  among  the  most  influential  and  pros- 
perous citizens. 

All  the  earlier  years  formed  a  period  of  individual 
effort  and  individual  achievement  in  Montana.  Indeed 
it  was  long  after  the  organization  of  the  territory  as  a 
state  when  corporate  power  became  stronger  than  man 
power  there.  The  hardships  and  struggles  inseparable 
from  pioneer  life  in  the  intermountain  country  of  the 
west  discouraged  others  than  the  most  self-reliant  men 
from  venturing  on  settlement.  The  same  hardships  and 
constant  dangers  developed  the  most  rugged  manhood 
and  dauntless  courage.  Long  after  the  menace  of  or- 
ganized wealth  and  the  abuses  of  corporate  power  were 
felt  and  understood  in  the  older  states,  the  corporation 
boss  in  Montana  continued  to  be  the  boss  of  the  corpor- 
ation instead  of  a  mere  agent  of  the  corporation  to  boss 
the  affairs  of  other  people  in  its  interest.  The  greatest 
industries  of  the  state  were  created  and  its  vast  wealth 
was  demonstrated  and  brought  to  use  by  labor  almost 
without  capital.  The  owner  of  the  mine  most  commonly 
was  the  miner  who  discovered  the  property,  throughout 
the  gold  mining  days.  The  slower  returns  and  the 
greater  investments  required  in  the  production  of  silver 
and  copper  ores  stimulated  the  creation  of  companies, 
but  the  men  who  operated  them  continued  in  their  in- 
dividual capacities  to  exercise  the  greater  influence  and 
the  greater  power  in  human  affairs.  It  was  in  fact 
Henry  Villard,  not  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway  Com- 
pany, who  constructed  the  first  railroad  across  the  state, 
and   until   quite  recent  years   James  J.   Hill   was   recog- 


EARLY    DAYS    AND    HEROIC    WAYS  7 

nized  as  greater  than  his  Great  Northern  system.  For 
a  long  time  Messrs.  Haggin  and  Hearst  owned  control 
of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  Company,  but  either 
or  both  of  them,  with  or  without  the  corporate  organi- 
zation, would  have  made  ridiculous  failure  in  attempts 
to  combat  the  influence  of  Marcus  Daly  in  Montana  in 
the  days  of  his  prime  strength.  It  was  the  advent  of  the 
trust,  with  its  combination  of  corporations  and  the  ex- 
tension of  influences,  with  interests,  into  a  wide  variety 
of  enterprise,  which  brought  the  sturdy  manhood  of  fhe 
state  into  subjection  and  under  foreign  control. 

Like  all  the  states  which  first  attracted  human  set- 
tlement by  the  discovery  of  gold,  the  foundation  of  the 
population  of  Montana  was  gathered  from  widely  scat- 
tered regions  and  countries.  To  a  greater  extent  than 
most  other  divisions  of  the  American  Union,  this  state 
has  been  free  from  subsequent  colonizations  and  race 
invasions.  The  hardy  stock  of  mankind  congregated 
by  the  first  adventurous  people  has  been  reinforced  dur- 
ing development  of  its  agricultural  and  other  resources 
by  immigrants  almost  wholly  from  within  the  United 
States.  The  result  has  been  a  citizenship  exceptionally 
independent  in  thought  and  action,  unusually  intelli- 
gent, and  familiar  with  principles  and  policies  of  gov- 
ernment. These  people  have  been  deceived  sometimes, 
betrayed  quite  frequently;  but  in  no  political  contest, 
whatever  the  issue,  has  any  party  or  any  candidate  for 
high  office  ever  presumed  to  appeal  directly  for  popular 
support  with  other  plea  than  one  compatible  with  high 
ideals  of  government  and  high  regard  for  public  integ- 
rity. This  is  evidenced  uniformly  in  official  records  and 
by  political  platforms,  even  in  times  when  corrupt  con- 
ditions scandalized  the  state  and  when  all  parties  notori- 
ously were  controlled  in  organization  by  conflicting  pri- 


8  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

vate  interests,  without  care  or  concern  for  public  weal 
or  the  reputation  of  the  state.  In  the  first  message  to 
the  first  legislative  assembly  of  the  territory  of  Mon- 
tana, delivered  by  Governor  Sidney  Edgerton  in  1864, 
when  the  national  government  was  menaced  by  re- 
bellion and  protracted  civil  war,  and  while  the  newly 
organized  territory  was  little  better  than  a  wilderness 
with  an  excess  of  savages  among  its  inhabitants,  he 
devoted  as  much  attention  to  education  as  to  any  other 
subject,  emphasizing  urgent  need  of  provision  for  public 
schools,  with  the  following  stated  reasons : 

"Hundreds  of  children  are  now  in  the  territory, 
which  a  wise  legislation  will  not  permit  to  grow  up  in 
ignorance;  for,  in  a  free  government  like  ours,  where 
public  measures  are  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the 
people,  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  that  people 
should  be  so  educated  as  to  understand  the  bearing  of 
public  measures.  A  self-ruling  people  must  be  an  edu- 
cated people,  or  prejudice  and  passion  will  assume  the 
power  and  anarchy  will  soon  usurp  the  authority  of 
government.  Children  are  in  one  sense  the  property  of 
the  public,  and  it  is  one  of  the  highest  and  most  solemn 
duties  of  the  state  to  furnish  ample  provision  for  their 
education.  It  has  been  well  said  by  a  distinguished 
jurist  that  it  is  cheaper  to  educate  the  boy  than  to  pun- 
ish the  man,  and  if  the  education  of  the  boy  is  neglected 
the  punishment  of  the  man  may  become  a  necessity,  for 
crime  and  ignorance  go  hand  in  hand." 

With  like  patriotic  concern,  and  not  less  prophetic 
of  dangers  to  the  common  weal,  were  the  utterances  of 
the  first  elected  governor  of  the  organized  state,  Hon. 
Joseph  K.  Toole,  almost  thirty-five  years  later,  in  his 
address  on  the  occasion  of  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone 
of  the  new  capitol  building.     This  was  on  July  4,  1899, 


EARLY    DAYS    AND    HEROIC    WAYS  9 

almost  contemporaneous  with  the  organization  of  the 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company.  Discussing  the  wel- 
fare of  the  state,  and  in  recognition  of  the  increasing 
encroachments  of  trust  power,  Governor  Toole  said  : 

"There  are  some  wise  men  bold  enough  to  insist  that 
these  stupendous  combinations  of  capital  are  the  off- 
spring of  humane  impulses  exclusively,  and  that  they 
are  designed  solely  to  ameliorate  the  sufferings  of  man- 
kind by  cheapening  the  cost  of  production  and  hence, 
according  to  their  philosophic  conclusions,  reducing  the 
cost  of  living.  Many  of  the  so-called  benefactors  of 
mankind  who  lived  in  other  days  appear  to  have  been 
made  of  the  same  clay  as  some  of  those  of  the  present 
time,  and  like  the  latter  did  not  always  hang  a  lantern 
over  the  pit  they  dug. 

"History  records  that  'Athens,  splendid,  ivy-crowned, 
poet-sung,  world  renowned  Athens,'  talked  eloquently 
of  human  rights  with  her  sandaled  foot  upon  the  neck 
of  four  hundred  thousand  slaves,  and  worshipped  de- 
voutly in  glorious  temples  dedicated  to  'the  unknown 
God';  and  Rome,  in  her  lust  of  dominion,  in  the  realiza- 
tion of  her  'manifest  destiny',  became  the  bloated  op- 
pressor of  the  world. 

"In  the  light  of  history,  then,  we  may  be  pardoned 
if  in  our  ignorance  or  incredulity,  some  of  us  should 
take  issue  with  the  incorporated  humanitarians  and  seek 
to  prevent  that  which,  in  our  judgment,  will  destroy 
competition,  limit  production,  restrain  trade  and  raise 
prices,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  adding  to  the  wealth  of 
the  few  and  the  poverty  of  the  many.  But,  happily  for 
us,  if  these  forebodings  should  ever  materialize,  they 
cannot  long  endure  under  our  form  of  government — 

"  'In  the  corrupted  currents  of  this  world 
Offence's  gilded  hand  may  shove  by  Justice.' 


10  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

but  sooner  or  later  the  remedy  will  be  secured.  In  a 
'government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,'  public  servants  can  always  be  found,  if  sought, 
who  will  vindicate  the  right." 

Three  years  to  a  day  after  Governor  Toole  delivered 
this  address,  the  Hon.  Wilbur  F.  Sanders,  rightly  famed 
as  one  of  the  most  heroic  characters  among  the  pioneers 
who  founded  the  state  and  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
patriotic  among  the  statesmen  of  later  years,  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  dedication  of  the  completed  capitol,  speak- 
ing for  the  pioneers  of  the  state,  said : 

"The  Pioneers  who  survive  to  witness  these  cere- 
monies would  belie  their  history  and  be  false  to  their 
comrades  dead,  did  they  not  regard  with  affectionate 
solicitude  this  temple  this  day  consecrated  to  high  public 
uses.  Its  architecture  is  worthy  of  the  state  they 
founded,  its  art  responds  to  the  cultivated  taste  of  an 
intelligent  people,  its  capacity  is  adequate  to  the  ser- 
vice of  a  great  commonwealth,  and  its  massive  solidity 
is  an  assurance  that  it  may  remain  the  theatre  of  our 
governmental  action  through  all  the  years  of  the  current 
century.  It  is  destined  to  see  all  contention  set  in  or- 
derly array  and  to  witness  the  heady  strifes  that  now 
impend  or  are  vaguely  foreshadowed  and  see  them  al- 
layed or  determined  conformable  to  justice  and  the 
public  good.  Under  its  lifted  dome  the  Wisdom  of  our 
people  will  find  expression  and  action.  Here  great  con- 
troversies will  invoke  the  triumphs  of  oratory  and  the 
dominance  of  prudent  wisdom  and  intelligent  patriotism. 
If  sordid  greed  shall  dare  here  to  attempt  its  conquests, 
if  coward  fear  shall  dictate  silence  or  speech,  if  arrogant, 
confident  ignorance  shall  here  direct  public  policies,  if 
selfish  ambition  shall  endeavor  to  mount  to  power  by 
perfidy   or    chicane,    if   bribery    shall    profane    this    holy 


EARLY    DAYS    AND    HEROIC    WAYS  11 

place,  the  voices  of  those  who  planted  this  civilization, 
from  beyond  the  confines  of  the  tomb,  will  be  heard  in 
accordant  execration." 

This,  too,  was  a  voice  in  prophecy;  and,  in  the  short 
period  of  time  which  has  elapsed  since  that  memorable 
ceremony  in  1902,  everything  enumerated  by  Colonel 
Sanders  as  designed  to  call  for  accordant  execration  from 
the  tombs  of  pioneers  has  found  place  or  performance 
under  the  roof  of  that  home  of  state  government. 


The  Blessing  and  the  Curse  of  Gold 

In  Volume  4  of  the  contributions  to  state  history, 
published  by  the  Historical  Society  of  Montana,  there 
is  printed  the  "original  sketch  of  proposed  seal  for  the 
territory  of  Montana,  made  by  Francis  M.  Thompson, 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Seal,  in  first  legislative 
assembly."  It  is  a  crude  work  of  art,  with  intertwined 
implements  of  mining  and  agriculture  for  a  center  piece, 
the  sun  above,  mountains  on  the  left,  the  falls  of  the 
Missouri  river  on  the  right,  and  "Oro  Y  Plata"  in  the 
place  of  motto.  This  design  was  adopted,  with  some 
slight  modifications  in  deference  to  artistic  finish,  and 
never  has  been  changed  ;  notwithstanding  that  the  base 
sentiment  and  sordid  suggestion  conveyed  by  it  have 
been  fervently  denounced  and  deplored  by  eminent  and 
gifted  orators  in  connection  with  most  notable  events 
in  the  making  of  the  state.  Doubtless  the  designer  of 
the  seal  in  1864  was  prompted  by  the  thought  that  the 
new  territory  was  in  more  immediate  need  of  attractive 
advertisement  than  of  enduring  inspiration  to  high 
ideals.  Later  a  designation  of  the  new  member  of  the 
American  union  as  "The  Treasure  State"  was  a  fitting 
complement  to  the  seal  design.  This  is  true,  notwith- 
standing indignant  declaration  by  Col.  Wilbur  F. 
Sanders,  that,  "In  childish  and  mistaken  simplicity,  there 
are  those  beyond  our  borders  who  suppose  we  have 
chosen  to  be  thus  denominated  because  of  the  prolific 
quality  of  our  farms,  our  mines,  our  Mocks,  our  herds, 
our  fruits  and  our  forests" ;  and  despite  Col.  Sanders' 
accompanying  patriotic  and  gracious  explanation  :  "The 

[13] 


14  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

accomplished  and  heroic  women  to  whom  our  civilization 
is  so  greatly  indebted,  the  courageous  and  noble  men 
free  from  greed  and  guile,  solicitous  and  ever  active  for 
our  good  name,  the  children  eager  to  protect  and  im- 
prove the  great  heritage  so  soon  to  be  theirs,  these  are 
the  precious  possessions  of  the  commonwealth  destined 
to  increase  appreciation  and  pride  when  mines  are  ex- 
hausted and  worldly  goods  accounted  as  vanity." 

The  mines  are  not  yet  exhausted  and  worldly  goods 
are  not  yet  accounted  as  vanity  in  Montana.  "Gold 
and  Silver!"  "The  Treasure  State!"  Throughout  its 
vast  domain  commercial  clubs,  and  boosters,  and  land 
agents,  and  mining  sharks,  and  combine  bosses,  and 
official  grafters,  are  giving  new  emphasis  to  the  old  ad- 
vertisement, and,  wise  in  the  work  of  publicity,  are 
proclaiming  possession  of  the  goods  "As  Advertised". 

Some  years  have  passed  since  Col.  Sanders  joined 
his  fellow  pioneers  in  well-earned,  endless  rest,  sincerely 
mourned  by  good  citizens  and  respected  or  feared  by 
bad  ones.  His  ideals  survive,  and  the  echoes  of  his  ex- 
ecrations while  alive  have  served  to  bring  to  merited 
disgrace  and  defeat  some  public  offenders  since  his 
death.  Yet  the  advertisement  on  the  great  seal  of  the 
state  of  territorial  times  has  been  in  fact  an  apt  motto 
for  the  state  in  most  important  events  of  its  history  to 
the  present  time.  So  much  may  be  asserted  as  con- 
spicuously true  of  most  important  events  in  most  other 
states  during  the  same  period,  covering  what  leaders  of 
business  and  molders  of  thought  are  pleased  to  describe 
as  the  commercial  era;  but  gold  and  silver  have  been 
more  conspicuously  related  to  the  blessings  and  curses 
visited  upon  the  people  of  Montana  than  in  the  experi- 
ences of  the  citizens  of  any  other  state.  It  was  the  dis- 
covery  of   gold    which    gave    early    settlements    to    the 


THE    BLESSING   AND    THE    CURSE    OF    GOLD  15 

rocky  mountain  wilderness  which  covers  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  great  region.  Placer  mining  of  gold  was 
followed  naturally  by  quartz  mining,  which  revealed  the 
great  wealth  of  silver,  and  this  in  turn  resulted  in  acci- 
dental discovery  of  the  seemingly  inexhaustible  deposits 
of  copper.  It  was  the  need  of  gold  which  prompted  the 
vigilantes  to  hang  the  outlaws  to  the  most  convenient 
elevations,  as  well  as  the  love  of  gold  which  made  the 
outlaws  proper  subjects  for  such  ceremonies. 

The  records  of  the  historical  society  are  almost  as 
rich  in  romance  and  heroism  and  patriotism  connected 
with  the  gold-finding  and  gold-mining  times  of  the  state, 
as  the  state  was  rich  in  gold.  As  early  as  1868  the  most 
authentic  publication  in  the  state's  history  at  that  time, 
in  the  form  of  an  almanac,  gave  facts  and  figures  to 
warrant  the  conclusion  that  Montana  had  added  to  the 
wealth  of  the  nation  over  $92,000,000  within  seven  years. 
The  population  of  the  whole  territory  was  then  esti- 
mated at  only  40,000  people.  It  was  the  proud  boast  in 
and  for  Montana  at  that  time  that  it  was  "The  first  ex- 
perience in  the  history  of  the  wonderful  territorial  ex- 
pansion and  increase  in  material  resources  and  popula- 
tion, of  the  United  States,  in  which  a  dependency  has 
held  a  self-sustaining  relation  to  the  federal  govern- 
ment from  the  very  first,  and  affords,  in  the  logically 
conclusive  rhetoric  of  figures,  convincing  proof  of  our 
present  prosperity  as  a  people  and  prophetic  promise 
of  a  still  more  propitious  future." 

Not  much  more  than  twenty  years  later  Grover 
Cleveland,  with  the  high  authority  of  a  president,  in- 
cluded Montana  among  "the  undesirable  states".  It 
might  be  no  better  than  conjecture  to  attempt  to  show 
whether  Mr.  Cleveland  reached  his  conclusion  through 
consideration  of  Montana's  natural  support  of  silver  as 


16  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

a  money  standard,  or  from  reflection  upon  his  personal 
experiences  as  one  of  a  group  of  distinguished  victims 
of  a  wild-cat  gold  mine  enterprise  in  the  rock-buttressed 
democratic  county  of  Granite,  state  of  Montana.  Either, 
or  any,  way,  it  is  certain  that  the  unprecedented  blessing 
of  contribution  to  national  prosperity  from  Montana 
came  from  gold  and  silver,  and  that  the  inadequate  gold 
in  the  Rock  Creek  Mine,  or  the  surplus  of  silver  in  the 
coin  of  the  country,  brought  the  mild  curse  of  Grover 
upon  the  Treasure  State.  Through  all  the  succeeding 
events  of  state  capital  contests,  of  corporation  conflicts, 
of  feudal  wars  and  legislative  corruption,  to  the  final 
conquest  of  the  commonwealth  by  alien  combine,  the 
potency  of  gold  is  always  and  everywhere  manifest.  In 
1864  a  letter  in  description  of  Montana  was  written  to 
Hon.  J.  M.  Edmunds,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  published 
in  "The  Great  West".  It  was  written  from  Virginia 
City  and  the  writer  said : 

"The  currency  here  is  entirely  gold,  treasury  notes 
at  this  present  writing  bringing  but  fifty  cents  on  the 
dollar.  The  entire  business  transactions  of  the  country 
are  done  with  gold  dust  as  a  medium,  and  it  is  recog- 
nized as  the  currency  of  the  country.  This  is  decidedly 
unfortunate,  particularly  for  government  officials,  who 
are  compelled  to  sacrifice  one-half  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties." 

The  relative  values  of  gold  and  of  official  station 
must  have  undergone  a  marvelous  change  from  that 
day  of  gold  dust  currency  to  the  eventful  time  in  the 
life  of  the  same  generation  when  it  was  common  report 
that  one  citizen  of  Montana  had  yielded  more  than  half 
a  million  dollars,  also  measured  by  the  gold  standard, 
for  the  mere  privilege  of  representing  Montana  in 
official  government  station,  and  that  another  prominent 


THE    BLESSING    AND    THE    CURSE    OF    GOLD  17 

resident  of  the  state,  with  ambition  of  different  turn, 
had  spent  almost  half  as  much  to  make  the  same  office 
vacant. 

The  outgrowths  of  personal  rivalries  and  personal 
animosities  and  personal  ambitions  were  feuds  and 
factions  and  bitter  conflicts  in  Montana,  as  elsewhere. 
The  great  wealth  of  the  chief  contestants  here  made  the 
power  of  gold  more  potent  than  other  influences  in 
determining  results.  Participants  made  material  gains, 
and  the  ruling  captains  could  afford  in  a  financial  way 
the  extravagant  cost.  The  evil  to  the  state  came  through 
the  adoption  and  toleration  of  corrupt  methods  in  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs  and  in  the  settlement  of  public 
questions.  The  agencies  were  created,  the  political 
tools  were  made  and  perfected,  ready  for  use  in  the 
later  operations  prosecuted  between  great  corporations 
through  simple  greed  of  gain,  which  finally  made  the 
commonwealth  an  asset  of  private  interests  in  very 
large  part,  and  made  of  the  state  first  a  rotton  borough, 
and  then  a  mere  province,  subject  to  an  oligarchy  com- 
posed of  New  York  stock  gamblers  and  industrial 
pirates. 

That  much  was  accomplished  by  worthy  and  suc- 
cessful pioneers  of  Montana  in  permitting  their  personal 
whims  and  prejudices  to  blur  their  vision  and  confuse 
their  judgment  to  an  extent  necessary  to  convince  them 
that  with  wealth  they  could  acquire  honor  or  perferment 
which  they  failed  to  attain  through  merit  or  by  force  of 
better  argument,  ignorant  or  forgetful  that  those  honors 
which  wealth  can  buy  with  corrupt  expenditure  cease 
to  be  honors  when  so  purchased.  They  established  in 
Montana  a  great  branch  of  that  school  whose  apt  pupils 
throughout  the  country  have  revolutionized  society, 
business  and  religion,  as  well  as  government.    With  this 


IS  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

cult  wealth  is  the  only  end,  abuse  of  power  the  rightful 
means,  failure  the  only  crime.  Its  literature  reveals  a 
faith  that,  as  every  dialect  has  had  its  philosophy,  every 
philosophy  must  have  its  dialect.  The  most  profound 
reasoning  of  its  professors  is  from  effect  to  cause;  in 
progress  from  ideas  to  words,  from  soul  to  sensuality, 
from  mind  to  pocket.  Through  this  school,  patriotism 
is  become  love  of  real  estate  rather  than  of  country. 
"In  God  We  Trust,"  because  it  is  on  the  American 
dollar — not  because  He  created  the  world,  but  because 
He  is  credited  with  having  sacrificed  His  only  begotten 
son  for  love  of  it.  Religion  is  become  a  business ;  adver- 
tisement is  the  highest  art;  yellow  journalism  is  litera- 
ture— and  this  is  history.  The  curse  of  gold  in  Montana 
has  been  long  and  widely  and  deeply  impressed  upon 
her  people ;  with  some  willingly,  to  some  helplessly,  for 
some  unwittingly.  The  return  to  consciousness  and 
conscience  naturally  is  weighted  heavily  with  surprise 
and  distress. 


In  the  Times  of  Feudal  Wars 

What  is  commonly  called  "The  Clark-Daly  Fight" 
in  Montana  was  started  about  the  time  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  state  in  1889.  It  very  soon  attained  the 
character  of  a  feud  and  a  magnitude  which  early  in- 
volved the  entire  state.  Although  one  of  the  principals 
in  the  strife  has  been  in  his  grave  for  nearly  a  decade, 
the  enmities  and  bitterness  engendered  by  it  continue  to 
live  and  to  affect  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  in  Mon- 
tana. The  continuing  conflict  between  these  two  men 
served  to  scandalize  the  public  character  of  hundreds  of 
men  and  to  debauch  the  private  character  of  thousands. 
It  discouraged  good  citizenship  within  the  state  and  dis- 
graced the  state  in  public  estimation  throughout  the 
nation.  If  this  twenty  years'  war  between  these  indus- 
trial masters  ever  had  more  worthy  cause  or  respectable 
origin  than  a  petty  jealousy  or  envious  resentment  in 
the  mind  of  Mr.  Daly,  the  fact  never  has  been  estab- 
lished in  authentic  record  available  to  public  knowledge. 

When  Marcus  Daly  came  to  Butte  he  was  the  rep- 
resentative of  Walker  Brothers,  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
looking  for  a  promising  enterprise  and  investment  in 
mining.  He  had  been  the  superintendent  of  a  mine  in 
Utah  for  that  firm,  having  worked  that  far  up  the  ladder 
of  advancement  from  an  Irish  emigrant  and  laborer  in 
the  mines  of  Nevada.  The  beginning  of  W.  A.  Clark  in 
business  life  was  scarcely  less  modest  or  humble.  The 
foundation  of  his  fortune  was  laid  with  wages  which  he 
had  saved  until  he  possessed  a  sufficient  sum  to  secure 
a  small  stock  of  merchandise,  working  his  way  upwards 

[19] 


JO  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

from  a  small  merchant  at  Bannack  in  early  territorial 
times  to  a  small  banker  in  Deer  Lodge,  and  finally  into 
the  banking  and  mining  business  in  Butte.  His  first 
considerable  savings  as  a  merchant  were  expended  on  a 
home  for  his  parents  in  the  middle  west,  and  his  next 
investment  from  mercantile  gains  was  in  a  college  edu- 
cation for  himself,  an  advantage  of  which  he  had  been 
deprived  by  the  family  needs  in  his  youth.  When  Mr. 
Daly  reached  Butte  the  letter  of  introduction  which  he 
brought  from  Walker  Brothers  was  addressed  to  W.  A. 
Clark,  already  a  leading  banker  and  widely  known  in 
the  western  mining  region  as  a  successful  man  of  busi- 
ness. Clark  and  Daly  became  personal  friends  and  this 
relationship,  lasting  through  many  years,  was  strength- 
ened by  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Daly  and  of  Mr.  Clark's 
brother,  and  partner,  to  sisters.  Both  men  were  mem- 
bers of  the  democratic  party,  and  both  were  counted  in 
"The  Big  Four"  credited  with  direction  of  party  affairs 
in  the  territory  and  in  the  early  years  of  statehood. 
Clark  developed  a  fancy  for  political  honors.  Daly  had 
no  ambitions  in  that  direction,  and.  indeed,  no  qualifica- 
tions for  statesmanship  by  education,  or  by  interest  in 
public  affairs  other  than  as  they  might  affect  his  private 
interests.  The  first  break  between  the  two  men  came 
through  and  after  the  defeat  of  Clark  as  a  candidate 
for  congress,  conspicuously  due  to  treachery  to  his 
former  friend,  as  well  as  to  his  party,  by  Mr.  Daly,  who, 
while  professing  devotion  to  both  party  and  candidate, 
so  directed  affairs  that  thousands  of  men  employed  in 
his  mines  in  Butte  and  his  smelters  at  Anaconda  either 
were  prevented  from  voting  or  were  influenced  to  vote 
for  the  republican  candidate  for  congress.  No  intelli- 
gent explanation  of  this  action  ever  was  afforded  by 
Mr.   Daly  or  his  friends.     The  breach  thus  formed   be- 


IN    THE    TIMES    OF    THE    FEUDAL    WARS  21 

tween  the  supporters  and  friends  of  the  two  men  never 
was  healed.  Mr.  Clark  repaid  the  injury  by  defeating 
the  pet  project  of  Mr.  Daly's  life  in  the  location  of  the 
state  capital.  In  almost  the  next  campaign  Daly  nour- 
ished the  grudge  with  fierce  but  futile  opposition  to  the 
election  of  Clark  to  the  United  States  senate,  but  suc- 
ceeded in  involving  the  proceeding  in  so  much  of  cor- 
ruption and  scandal  that  an  investigation  of  the  election 
was  made  by  the  senate  and  so  much  evidence,  real  and 
manufactured,  of  rottenness  in  public  affairs  in  Montana 
was  presented  that  Clark  found  it  necessary  to  resign 
the  office  to  escape  adverse  action  by  a  republican  sen- 
ate. In  the  campaign  which  followed  closely  upon  the 
end  of  the  protracted  investigation  by  the  senate,  Mr. 
Clark  sought  and  secured  vindication  through  re-elec- 
tion, and  held  undisputed  title  to  a  seat  in  that  body 
during  the  ensuing  six  years.  The  death  of  Mr.  Daly 
occurred  in  1902,  soon  after  the  election  that  gave  to  his 
antagonist  a  long-delayed  triumph  in  realization  of  a 
quite  natural  ambition,  which  in  the  earlier  years  never 
met  in  Montana  worse  or  other  effective  opposition  than 
that  engendered  by  the  Daly  animosity. 

Knowledge  of  something  more  than  common  pop- 
ular estimation  of  these  two  men  is  necessary  to  an  un- 
derstanding of  their  characters,  activities,  and  achieve- 
ments. Both  were  very  extraordinary  men,  and  both 
from  the  most  humble  beginnings  attained  positions  of 
commanding  power  and  leadership,  a-  well  as  vast 
fortunes.  Without  their  abilities  and  energies  in  mining 
operations,  Butte  might  easily  have  become  an  aban- 
doned placer  camp  like  scores  of  others  in  Montana. 
The  State  might  yet  retain  its  inestimable  wealth  in 
copper  undeveloped,  and  would  have  escaped  all  the 
between  copper  kings,  with  most  of  the  political  crimes 


22  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

which  have  diverted  the  powers  of  the  state  and  the 
better  parts  of  its  natural  wealth  to  private  control  and 
alien  profit.  Enough  has  been  written  about  each  man 
to  make  ponderous  volumes.  A  search  for  authentic 
information  about  both,  for  use  in  this  work,  discovered 
nothing  like  an  impartial  or  accurate  printed  record  or 
account  of  the  works  and  character  of  either.  The  vir- 
tues and  the  faults  of  both  have  been  grossly  exagger- 
ated by  the  friends  or  enemies  of  each  in  consequence 
of  the  long  continued  warfare  in  which  they  engaged, 
and  in  which  the  public  press  and  the  ordinary  as  well 
as  the  extraordinary  mediums  of  publicity  became  mere 
weapons  in  the  fray.  As  a  matter  of  course  Mr.  Clark 
suffered  most  in  public  regard  from  this  means. 
Throughout  the  whole  time  he  was  either  a  public  of- 
ficial or  a  partisan  candidate  for  public  office 
while  Mr.  Daly,  during  much  of  the  time,  so 
planned  his  campaigns  that  he  was  able  to  be  posed  as 
the  private  citizen  striving  to  protect  his  party  and  his 
state,  as  well  as  the  United  States  senate,  against  the 
influences  and  the  infamies  of  political  corruption.  No 
falsehood  ever  was  further  from  fact.  There  is  abun- 
dance of  evidence  that  Mr.  Clark  paid  a  most  extrava- 
gant cost  for  his  first  certificate  of  election  as  United 
States  senator,  and  there  is  equally  good  evidence  that 
Mr.  Daly  manifested  no  disposition  to  spare  expense 
to  defeat  his  enemy,  and  approved  and  paid  for  agencies 
and  methods  and  crimes,  in  the  campaign  to  deprive  Mr. 
Clark  of  his  seat,  quite  as  varied  and  in  some  instances 
more  contemptible  than  any  shown  to  have  been  utilized 
in  promotion  of  the  Clark  candidacy.  The  three  bulky 
documents  containing  the  report  of  the  senate  investi- 
gation of  the  Clark  election  contain  few  honors  for  any 
one  connected  with  it,  revealing  that  Daly  as  well  as 


IN    THE    TIMES    OF   THE    FEUDAL    WARS  23 

Clark,  republicans  as  well  as  democrats,  shared  in  the 
responsibility  for  the  "inextricable  intertwinement"  of 
corruption  with  government.  These  disgraceful  per- 
formances are  recalled  with  no  other  purpose  than  to 
show  the  influences  which  have  contributed  to  condi- 
tions making  possible  the  evolution  from  a  free  Amer- 
ican state  to  a  servile  instrument  for  the  increase  of 
corporate  power  and  pelf.  Indeed,  the  sale  of  a  senate 
seat  in  Montana  at  that  time  was  not  without  precedent 
in  other  states  with  greater  pretensions  to  civic  right- 
eousness. There  have  been  quite  as  flagrant  examples 
elsewhere  since  that  time.  It  was  remarked  by  some 
of  Mr.  Clark's  supporters  on  that  occasion  that  he  did 
not  buy  anybody  who  was  not  for  sale,  and  in  the  light 
of  subsequent  events,  in  and  out  of  Montana,  and  some 
notable,  not  to  say  notorious,  facts  of  senatorial  policy 
and  conduct,  it  is  no  more  than  fair  and  due  to  observe 
that,  whatever  his  faults,  Mr.  Clark,  as  senator,  never 
was  suspected  of,  or  charged  with,  selling  his  influence 
as  a  senator,  or  of  betraying  his  constituents  to  corrupt 
interests  for  private  gain. 

The  first  wholesale  political  debauchery  of  Montana 
was  in  connection  with  the  location  of  the  state  capital. 
It  was  instigated  by  Marcus  Daly,  directed  by  him,  at  his 
expense,  in  his  selfish  interests,  and  to  gratify  his  per- 
sonal vanity.  The  campaign  in  pursuit  of  this  coveted 
prize  was  continued  through  several  years  and  furnished 
the  chief  question  voted  on  by  the  people  of  the  state  at 
two  elections.  Mr.  Daly  sought  to  locate  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment at  Anaconda,  a  city  of  his  own  creation,  mostly 
owned  by  the  corporation  whose  affairs  he  directed,  and 
abjectly  under  his  influence  and  control.  It  was  located 
almost  in  a  corner  of  the  state,  at  the  dead  end  of  a 
branch  line  of  railway,  which,  like  the  town,  was  owned 


24  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

and  operated  by  the  mining  and  smelting  company.  The 
one  plausible  reason  why  Anaconda  should  be  considered 
a  desirable  site  for  the  statehouse  was  in  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Daly  wanted  it  there.  The  chief  argument  used  in 
behalf  of  the  town  was  money.  Other  effective  influ- 
ences enlisted  by  the  Daly  forces  in  the  contest  consti- 
tuted indirect  bribery,  and  involved  the  educational, 
charitable  and  penal  institutions  of  the  state  in  bargain- 
ings and  petty  political  considerations  which  have 
worked  lasting  injury  to  the  institutions  and  imposed 
unnecessary  burdens  upon  taxpayers  to  the  present  time. 
This  is  especially  true  of  educational  institutions,  which 
were  divided  and  scattered  over  the  state  in  efforts  to 
secure  the  support  of  various  communities  for  Ana- 
conda in  the  capital  fight.  The  local  jealousies  and  petty 
rivalries  thus  created  never  have  ceased  to  be  a  con- 
trolling and  hurtful  influence  in  the  conduct  of  the  col- 
leges, while  the  people  have  been  compelled  to  bear  the 
cost  of  multiplication  of  buildings  and  expense  of  ad- 
ministration. Bribery  in  this  fight,  so  far  as  Mr.  Daly 
was  concerned,  was  limited  only  by  the  variety  of  means 
and  channels  through  which  it  could  be  exercised,  and 
not  at  all  by  extravagance  of  cost.  One  of  the  stories  of 
the  contest  which  has  survived  the  times  is,  in  substance, 
that  one  loyal  agent  of  Mr.  Daly  incurred  his  displeas- 
ure after  the  election  by  returning  to  him  several  thou- 
sands of  dollars  with  the  explanation  that  he  was  unable 
to  find  new  or  neglected  opportunities  for  placing  it  on 
election  day.  It  is  of  passing  interest  that  this  persistent 
and  urgent  temptation  to  sell  a  public  interest  to  serve 
private  ends  was  resisted  by  the  people  of  Montana  on 
this  occasion,  albeit  the  majority  was  dangerously  small. 
The  important  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  Marcus  Daly 
established  in  the  state  the  business  of  corrupting  the 


IN    THE    TIMES    OF    THE    FEUDAL    WARS  25 

state  at  elections  and  in  government  for  private  service, 
and  that  his  successors  and  assigns  in  politics  and  busi- 
ness have  continued  the  enterprise  ever  since  with  every 
imaginable  invention  and  device  to  defeat  public  inter- 
ests and  to  perfect  corporate  power  in  the  promotion  of 
selfish  private  ends. 

A  new  factor  and  a  new  faction  for  feudal  conflict 
in  Montana  came  with  the  development  of  F.  A.  Heinze 
as  a  conspicuous  figure  in  mining  and  political  opera- 
tions in  Butte.  Heinze  came  to  town  a  young  man, 
fresh  from  college,  and  found  employment  in  a  subor- 
dinate position  in  the  engineering  force  of  the  Boston 
and  Montana  Copper  Mining  Company,  then  an  inde- 
pendent organization  and  the  most  formidable  rival  of 
the  Anaconda  company  in  the  camp.  Heinze's  position 
enabled  him  to  acquire  a  thorough  knowledge  of  under- 
ground conditions  in  Butte  as  well  as  a  practical  exper- 
ience in  the  most  successful  and  extensive  copper  mining 
field  in  the  country.  He  possessed  brains  in  abundance, 
a  fine  address,  a  strong  physique,  tireless  energy,  bound- 
less egotism,  was  "a  good  mixer",  a  prudent  spendthrift, 
and  had  no  moral  restrictions.  He  made  both  friends 
and  money  rapidly,  and  spared  neither  in  the  promotion 
and  accomplishment  of  his  purposes.  The  knowledge 
he  acquired  of  Boston  and  Montana  Company  properties 
enabled  him  to  become  a  valuable  ally  of  Mr.  Daly  in 
comparatively  unimportant  conflicts  of  interest.  He 
broke  with  Daly  and  assisted  Mr.  Clark  in  the  campaign 
which  brought  victory  to  that  gentleman  against  both 
Daly  and  the  newly  organized  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company.  When,  following  the  death  of  Mr.  Daly, 
there  was  temporary  truce  between  Clark  and  the  big 
combine,  Heinze  organized  his  forces  with  ambitious 
politicians,  in  and  out  of  Butte,  who  successfully  com 


26  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

batted  the  Amalgamated  army,  the  Clark  organization 
and  the  former  followers  of  Daly,  all  combined,  by  ap- 
pealing to  the  people  against  the  dangers  of  encroach- 
ments by  a  great  foreign  combine  on  the  one  hand,  and 
by  attracting  wage-earners  with  shorter  work  days  and 
special  concessions  in  his  own  mines  and  smelters,  as 
well  as  with  promises  of  legislation  to  secure  these  ad- 
vantages to  laboring  men  permanently.  He  organized 
the  United  Copper  Company  in  almost  perfect  imitation 
of  the  Amalgamated  combine  at  the  same  time,  and  gave 
battle  to  the  captains  of  high  finance  and  watered  stocks 
on  the  eastern  exchanges.  He  secured  control  &  city 
and  county  government  in  Butte,  as  well  as  of  the  judges 
of  the  district  courts  in  Silver  Bow  county,  and  a  strong 
influence  in  the  legislative  and  administrative  depart- 
ments of  state  government.  He  employed  able 
lawyers,  as  well  as  willing  judges,  and  laid  in 
litigation  lines  of  attack  which  menaced  titles  to 
Amalgamated  properties,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  employed  his  mining  forces  and  his  knowledge  of 
underground  workings  in  Butte  in  gophering  through 
some  of  the  richest  veins  of  his  adversary's  mines — 
bringing  the  ores  out  of  his  own  shafts  and  reducing 
them  in  his  own  smelters,  thus  compelling  the  enemy  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  war.  For  the  greater  part  of  a 
decade  the  Heinze-Amalgamated  battles  dwarfed  all 
other  feudal  strifes  in  the  state  and  subjected  all  other 
interests  to  these  influences.  During  this  time  every 
branch  and  agency  of  government,  from  the  humblest 
city  employee  in  Butte  to  judges  of  the  highest  courts, 
federal  and  state,  within  Montana,  were  little  better  than 
officers  or  camp  followers  of  the  contending  forces. 
Heinze's  strength  was  with  the  people,  derived  perhaps 
in  about  equal  parts  from  their  confidence  in  his  prom- 


IN    THE   TIMES    OF   THE    FEUDAL    WARS  27 

ises  and  performances,  and  in  their  distrust  of  his  non- 
resident adversaries.  Had  he  possessed  a  better  com- 
prehension of  this  fact  and  a  realization  of  the  limita- 
tions to  his  personal  power,  and  maintained  a  seeming 
integrity  of  purpose,  together  with  a  policy  of  fair  play 
with  his  associates  and  supporters,  he  easily  might  have 
maintained  his  mastery  in  the  state  and  might  have  be- 
come the  dominating  figure  in  the  copper  mining  world. 
He  took  the  other  course,  attempted  to  better  the  in- 
struction of  the  kings  of  corruption  in  New  York  and  to 
beat  them  at  their  own  game.  His  abuse  of  power, 
piratical  enterprise  and  perversion  of  government 
agencies,  became  so  flagrant  and  intolerable  that  self- 
respecting  citizenship  revolted.  He  lost  control  of 
courts  and  sold  out  his  supporters  as  well  as  his  mines 
to  the  Amalgamated  stock-jobbers,  who  compelled  the 
public  to  pay  for  both  as  well  as  a  liberal  advance  upon 
the  purchase  price  through  inflated  values  during  the 
boom  days  of  1906  in  addition  to  the  actual  cost.  The 
promoters  for  the  big  combine  paid  $10,500,000  for  the 
Heinze  properties,  stocked  them  in  a  new  company  with 
a  capitalization  of  $15,000,000,  floated  the  stock  at  par, 
and  during  the  succeeding  five  years  never  have  given 
an  intelligent  explanation  to  stockholders  regarding 
either  the  use  of  the  $4,000,000  surplus  or  the  failure  to 
pay  reasonable  dividends.  It  has  been  conservatively 
estimated  that  Mr.  Heinze  left  Butte  with  a  cash  capital 
in  excess  of  $5,000,000  above  all  liabilities  of  a  financial 
kind.  He  went  to  New  York  and  engaged  in  banking 
and  speculation  in  competition  with  his  former  oppon- 
ents in  mining  operations,  is  credited  with  having  made 
a  wager  that  he  would  make  the  price  of  his  United  Cop- 
per Company  stocks — nearly  all  the  productive  property 
of  which  he  had  transferred  to  the  Amalgamated  people 


28  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

— higher  than  that  of  Amalgamated  in  the  market. 
Whether  the  wager  was  made  or  not,  the  price  of  United 
Copper  did  pass  that  of  Amalgamated  for  a  day.  Within 
six  months  of  that  time  Mr.  Heinze's  fortune  was  gone, 
he  was  out  of  the  banking  business,  and  defendant  in 
criminal  prosecutions  in  two  states  for  dishonest  bank- 
ing, while  the  mercenaries  of  his  Montana  army  were 
enlisted  in  public  office  and  in  private  occupation  with 
the  employees  and  supporters  of  the  enlarged  and  newly 
entrenched  Amalgamated  organization. 

Within  three  years  the  copper  mines  and  reduction 
works  owned  by  Mr.  Clark  in  Butte  have  passed,  through 
purchase,  to  the  growing  monopoly.  Thus  the  feudal 
wars  were  ended.  The  last  formidable  individual  min- 
ing operator  or  political  captain  in  Montana  was  dis- 
posed of,  and  the  New  York  oligarchy  of  predatory 
wealth  was  without  a  competitor  or  a  rival  for  control 
of  the  rich  resources  and  the  poor  government  of  the 
Treasure  State  of  the  American  Union. 


Of  Pioneer  State  Leaders  and  Modern 
Absentee  Bosses 

Notwithstanding  the  unparalleled  extension  of  edu- 
cational advantages  in  this  free  country,  the  average 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  appears  to  have  been  de- 
rived from  imperfect  youthful  study  of  the  bible  in 
Sunday  school  and  careful  reading  of  the  Rollo  books 
of  childhood.  Some  seventy-five  years  before  the  Revo- 
lutionary fathers  established  the  doctrine  that  govern- 
ments derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed,  the  Puritan  fathers  hung  witches  at  Salem 
to  the  end  that  the  revealed  will  of  God  should  govern 
America.  Within  seventy-five  years  after  the  pioneers 
of  Montana  had  hung  road  agents  in  Alder  Gulch  to 
establish  the  doctrine  that  "the  will  of  the  people  shall 
be  the  law  of  the  land,"  wage-earners  in  Montana  were 
starved  to  death  by  enforced  idleness  to  insure  the 
apostles  of  high  finance  in  Wall  Street  against  loss  of  a 
comparatively  trifling  portion  of  illgotten  gains.  From 
pulpit  and  professor,  from  press  and  politician,  mankind 
continues  to  be  taught  that  men  are  either  good  or  bad 
in  this  world,  as  if  there  were  but  one  line  of  distinction 
or  one  standard  of  measurement  for  all  the  infinite  va- 
riety of  mankind — as  if  all  good  and  all  bad  were  not 
relative,  and  as  if  there  were  not  something  of  both  vir- 
tue and  of  vice  in  every  one.  The  progress  of  the  world 
in  material  ways  from  the  spread  of  knowledge  and  com- 
plex civilization  has  increased  the  use,  if  not  the  useful- 
ness, of  the  legal  profession  by  a  great  mass  of  conflict- 
ing statute  laws.     It  does  not  appear  from  the  history 

[29] 


30  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

of  men  or  nations  that  any  of  nature's  laws  thereby  have 
been  invalidated  or  made  inoperative,  while  it  may  be 
questioned  if  the  multiplicity  of  enactments  to  regulate 
human  conduct  has  not  increased  the  difficulty  which 
many  ordinarily  good  people  find  in  distinguishing  be- 
tween right  and  wrong.  Whether  through  folly  or 
wisdom,  mankind  generally  has  reached  a  belief  that 
for  worldly  purposes  the  statute  of  limitations  ought  to 
apply  against  original  sin,  and  that  devilish  propensity 
is  more  directly  a  development  of  environment  and  cul- 
ture and  growth  than  of  inherent  qualities  or  elements 
of  good  and  evil.  The  parasite  and  the  profligate  are 
recognized  as  the  germ  of  diseases  of  society,  and  whole- 
some public  sentiment  is  esteemed  above  prayer  as  a 
remedy.  Precedent  and  custom  easily  become  a  more 
potent  influence  than  vague  law,  with  a  people,  as  well 
as  with  judges  of  high  courts.  There  was  no  alarming 
growth  of  socialism  in  America  until  combines  had 
demonstrated  the  helplessness  of  the  individual  against 
the  power  and  the  profits  of  cooperation.  There  never 
was  serious  menace  or  preachment  of  anarchy  in  the 
United  States  before  lawlessness  was  established  in  ex- 
ample and  practice  by  corporate  management  and  "Na- 
poleons of  Finance".  "The  Square  Deal"  could  not  have 
become  a  national  issue  in  this  country,  and  aroused 
excitement  of  public  mind  unequalled  since  the  civil  war, 
if  the  majority  of  citizens  had  not  become  convinced 
that  they  were  deprived  of  hope  of  it  by  existing  abuses 
of  the  powers  of  government. 

So  much  of  observation  may  be  helpful  to  an  under- 
standing, as  well  as  a  justification,  of  a  chapter  dealing 
with  the  personal  qualities  of  the  pioneers  who  builded 
the  state  of  Montana  and  of  the  absentee  bosses  who 
hare  stolen  or  bought  control  of  the  government. 


OF    PIONEER    LEADERS    AND    ABSENTEE    BOSSES         31 

It  was  not  their  aptitude  for  or  participation  in  po- 
litical affairs  which  made  either  William  A.  Clark  or 
Marcus  Daly  great  men  or  leaders  in  Montana.  Both 
were  workers,  builders — fearless,  tireless,  practical, 
shrewd — with  first  hand  knowledge  of  men  as  well  as 
of  industry.  Both  have  been  called  vain.  Both  were 
proud,  but  each  possessed  and  manifested  a  pride  of 
worthy  accomplishment ;  in  the  wealth  and  the  success 
of  their  state  as  well  as  of  themselves.  Excellence  of 
achievement  was  the  constant  aim  of  both.  For  recrea- 
tion or  hobby  Mr.  Clark  turned  to  art,  Mr.  Daly  to  horse 
racing.  First  in  Butte  and  later  in  New  York  Mr. 
Clark  constructed  a  palatial  home  and  adorned  it  with 
famous  pictures,  regardless  of  price.  Mr.  Daly  estab- 
lished in  the  Bitter  Root  Valley  the  finest  fancy  stock 
farm  at  that  time  in  the  country,  and  bred  race-horses 
until  he  had  won  the  greatest  event  of  American  tracks. 
For  and  with  his  associates  Mr.  Daly  developed  the 
greatest  copper  mine  in  the  Butte  camp,  built  the  city 
of  Anaconda  as  a  smelter  town,  and  constructed  a  plant 
which  developed  into  the  world's  greatest  smelters. 
These  properties  became  the  foundation  part  or  nucleus 
of  the  copper  combine,  and  the  Daly  fortune  was  en- 
larged by  his  part  in  the  organization  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Copper  Company  and  the  flotation  of  its  watered 
stock  at  par.  His  death  occurred  a  short  time  after  the 
accomplishment  of  that  enterprise. 

Mr.  Clark  bought  and  developed  what  was  in  fact, 
as  in  name,  the  "Original"  quartz  mining  claim  in  the 
Butte  camp,  and  he  operated  it  with  other  properties 
there  for  more  than  thirty  years  as  an  individual.  He 
met  exorbitant  freight  rates  to  remote  smelters  by  en- 
listing mutual  interests  and  constructing  the  first  suc- 
cessful  smelter   plant    in    Butte.      For   nearly   a   quarter 


32  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

century  he  has  been  the  most  extensive  individual  cop- 
per mine  owner  and  operator  in  the  country,  but  his 
marvelous  talent  for  business  and  the  development  of 
productive  enterprise  never  has  been  limited  to  a  narrow 
scope,  and  he  has  acquired  and  utilized  an  expert  knowl- 
edge in  most  widely  varied  branches  of  industrial  en- 
deavor. He  projected  and  constructed  a  short  line  rail- 
way from  Salt  Lake  City  to  Southern  California,  and  ex- 
tended his  mining  operations  to  copper  mines  in  Ari- 
zona, coal  mines  in  Colorado,  zinc  mines  in  Montana, 
silver  mines  in  Utah.  He  is  reported  as  one  of  the  first 
men  in  America  to  engage  in  the  beet  sugar  industry 
on  extensive  scale,  establishing  a  large  plant  in  Cali- 
fornia. He  has  developed  water  power  plants  for  the 
generation  of  electricity,  and  built  and  owns  street  car 
systems,  water  works  and  electric  lighting  plants  in  im- 
portant cities,  works  in  New  York  where  a  large  part  of 
his  copper  product  is  made  into  wire,  a  bronze  factory 
in  New  York,  a  large  cattle  ranch  in  Montana,  a  still 
larger  coffee  and  sugar  ranch  in  Mexico,  a  powder  factory 
for  high  explosives  in  Pennsylvania,  besides  banking 
and  newspaper  institutions  in  Montana.  The  banking 
firm  of  "W.  A.  Clark  &  Bro."  in  Butte,  started  in  pio- 
neer days,  is  almost  unique  in  important  banking  in  the 
country,  being  unincorporated  and  owned  now  as  when 
started,  by  the  two  partners,  without  limit  of  liability  to 
its  depositors  within  the  wealth  of  its  owners.  In  other 
lines  as  in  banking  Mr.  Clark  never  has  lost  control  of 
any  business  in  which  he  retained  interest.  His  profits 
have  come  from  production  and  not  through  inflation  of 
values.  No  stock  of  any  Clark  company  ever  was  placed 
upon  any  stock  market.  During  boom  times  and  periods 
of  wild  speculation  it  has  been  noted  that  employees 
and  associates  of  Mr.  Clark  in  business  were  not  lending 


OF    PIONEER    LEADERS    AND    ABSENTEE    BOSSES         33 

or  selling  the  use  of  their  names  in  wild-cat  enterprises 
or  for  stock-jobbing  purposes.  He  has  resisted  most 
alluring  temptations  in  profit,  as  well  as  the  dangers  of 
trust  competition,  to  maintain  his  independence  and  in- 
tegrity in  the  conduct  of  his  great  and  varied  business. 
It  is  related  of  him  also  that  he  has  retained  his  early 
day  policy  of  personal  attention  to  all  details  of  business, 
and  that  no  man  in  any  Clark  enterprise  is  indispensable 
to  Clark  or  competent  to  advise  him  in  respect  to  eco- 
nomical or  progressive  methods  in  any  line  of  his  busi- 
ness interests.  Rated  as  the  richest  man  who  ever  en- 
tered the  United  States  senate  as  a  member,  and  counted 
in  a  senate  speech  by  Robert  M.  LaFollette  among  "the 
hundred  men  who  own  America,"  it  truthfully  may  be 
said  of  Mr.  Clark  that  he  is  one  of  that  hundred,  if  not 
the  only  one,  who  acquired  his  wealth  through  produc- 
tive enterprise  without  robbing  either  capital  or  labor 
through  wild-cat  investment  or  wage  wars.  This  among 
captains  of  finance  and  industry  is  rare  enough  to  give 
to  its  owner  some  measure  of  public  confidence  and  hon- 
orable fame. 

There  is  a  human  side  to  the  Clark  nature  also 
worthy  of  recognition,  and  which  has  endured  through 
all  the  times,  and  against  all  the  influences  of  malignant 
conflict  and  persistent  importunities  which  sometimes 
help  to  harden  hearts  of  wealthy  men.  His  charities 
are  practical  and  his  continuing  and  personal  interest 
and  supervision  are  exercised  to  insure  their  effective- 
ness. In  the  barren  hills  which  encompass  Butte,  he 
created  beyond  the  smoke  zone  of  smelter  times,  in  one 
of  the  canyons,  a  beautiful  garden  which,  aside  from  the 
mines,  is  the  one  show  feature  of  the  Montana  metrop- 
olis. Besides  the  ordinary  attractions  of  a  public  park, 
including  "Zoo"  and  fish  hatchery,  there  are  playgrounds 


34  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

for  children.  One  day  in  each  week  the  park  and  all  its 
concessions,  with  transportation  to  and  from  town,  are 
free  to  all  the  children  of  Butte  as  guests  of  Mr.  Clark. 
In  the  same  city,  as  a  memorial  to  his  youngest  son,  he 
built  a  model  home  for  dependent  children,  which  has 
been  maintained  for  many  years.  More  recently  in  Los 
Angeles,  as  a  memorial  to  his  mother,  who  died  in  that 
city,  he  donated  a  great  sum  for  the  construction  of  a 
home  for  working  girls,  to  be  under  the  management 
of  the  Young  Woman's  Christian  Association.  Few  if 
any  worthy  undertakings  of  a  public  character  in  Mon- 
tana are  in  existence  which  do  not  owe  acknowledge- 
ment to  Mr.  Clark  for  material  assistance.  Free  from 
the  reproach  of  the  use  of  wealth  in  the  defeat  of  assail- 
ants who  could  have  been  defeated  in  Montana  at  that 
time  by  no  other  means,  the  career  of  W.  A.  Clark 
might  easily  be  taken  as  a  model  example  of  individual 
effort  and  accomplishment  in  the  civilization  of  the  west. 
Regardless  of  the  times  and  conditions  which  made  him 
target  of  partisan  attack,  as  well  as  the  victim  of  per- 
sonal malice,  he  remains  easily  the  most  notable  char- 
acter in  the  history  of  the  material  life  of  Montana,  and 
not  less  worthy  than  most  of  his  detractors  and  con- 
temporaries in  most  other  particulars. 

These  men  most  famous  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
the  state  were  not  in  fact  most  conspicuous  among  the 
men  of  influence  who  participated  in  laying  its  founda- 
tions and  forming  the  controlling  character  of  the  citi- 
zenship of  earlier  years.  The  volumes  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Montana  carry  the  names  of  hundreds  who 
played  leading  parts  in  heroic  or  successful  performance. 
The  state  map  with  its  subdivisions  reflects  the  recog- 
nition of  distinguished  services  of  pioneers  by  their  suc- 
cessors.    There  are  counties  named  in  honor  of  Lewis 


OF   PIONEER    LEADERS    AND    ABSENTEE    BOSSES        35 

and  Clark,  of  Andrew  Dawson,  Gallatin,  and  Choteau, 
among  early  explorers  and  adventurers ;  for  good  Father 
Ravalli,  whose  effective  efforts  in  early  missionary  work 
among  the  Indians  were  notable,  and  whose  exemplifica- 
tion of  the  work  of  Christ  among  the  savages  of  an  un- 
explored wilderness  is  become  a  treasured  tradition  with 
red  men  and  white  alike  at  the  present  time.  Later 
comers  whose  names  were  perpetuated  in  county  nomen- 
clature were  Broadwater,  Fergus,  Custer  and  Sanders. 
Of  all  these  only  Col.  Broadwater  acquired  large  wealth, 
and  only  Col.  Sanders  reached  distinction  in  political 
life.  The  list  of  leaders  might  be  extended  to  include 
scores  of  men,  now  scarcely  remembered  by  others  than 
the  few  surviving  pioneers,  who  were  not  less  active 
and  able  in  the  important  work  of  early  times.  Almost 
every  one  of  the  hundreds  of  mining  camps,  whether 
grown  into  modern  cities  or  long  time  abandoned  to 
desolation,  is  rich  in  historical  association,  and  almost 
all  of  them  developed  citizens  who  became  important 
characters  in  state  affairs.  The  professions  were  re- 
cruited from  the  placer  mines  to  a  large  extent.  Hon. 
W.  Y.  Pemberton,  who  reached  the  distinction  of  a  seat 
on  the  bench  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  and 
whose  venerable  years  are  being  devoted  fittingly  and 
lovingly  to  the  collection  of  state  history  as  librarian  of 
the  Montana  Historical  Society,  crossing  the  Rocky 
Mountains  in  a  Pullman  car,  enroute  home  from  a 
world's  exposition  west  of  Montana,  pointed  out  the 
gulch  where  he  had  crossed  the  mountain  range  on  foot, 
"whacking  a  bull  team"  to  pay  his  way  with  company 
from  Fort  Benton  to  Virginia  City,  the  trip  requiring 
nearly  three  months'  time  when  made  half  a  century  be- 
fore. This  same  judge,  a  competent  authority,  has  a 
mind  filled  with  memories  of  the  men  and  times  when 


36  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

law  was  practiced  and  interpreted  with  regard  to  justice 
rather  than  to  special  interests. 

When  an  approved  school  text  book,  dealing  with 
history  and  literature,  published  since  the  beginning  of 
the  twentieth  century,  treats  the  country  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River  as  if  it  had  been  settled  by  criminals 
and  vagrants  not  yet  redeemed  by  the  saving  grace  of 
eastern  "culture",  it  becomes  of  interest,  if  not  neces- 
sary, in  telling  the  history  of  the  surrender  of  a  western 
state  to  eastern  influence,  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the 
pioneers  of  that  state  most  responsible  for  its  character 
as  well  as  its  formation,  were  not  outlaws.  Of  the 
prominent  men  thus  far  mentioned,  nearly  all  had  some 
part  in  the  work  of  driving  outlaws  from  the  territory 
before  agencies  of  law  had  been  established.  It  will  be 
noted,  too,  that  much  and  the  worst  part  of  the  law- 
lessness referred  to  is  of  that  variety  most  easily  and 
generally  recognized  as  legalized  by  incorporation  under 
the  laws  of  New  Jersey. 

Wherever  American  periodical  publications  are 
read,  there  is  some  knowledge  and  estimate  of  the  Mon- 
tana people  gained  through  advertisement  of  conflicts 
between  factions  and  corporations  mentioned  in  this 
work.  Not  one  in  ten  thousand  of  these  enlightened 
American  citizens,  outside  of  Montana,  ever  heard  of 
Cornelius  Hedges.  Yet  Mr.  Hedges  was  a  distinguished 
resident  of  Montana  for  more  than  forty  years,  dating 
from  the  time  of  the  creation  of  the  territory  from  which 
it  was  formed.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  man  who  ever  re- 
sided within  the  borders  exercised  a  more  extensive  in- 
dividual influence,  and  it  is  certain  that  no  man  ever 
was  more  universally  respected  and  beloved  within  the 
state.  Some  understanding  of  his  character  and  con- 
duct, therefore,  will  aid  to  better  understanding  of  the 


OF    PIONEER   LEADERS    AND    ABSENTEE    BOSSES         37 

principles  and  ideals  which  governed  in  the  minds  of 
the  Montana  public  during  his  lifetime.  The  data  here 
presented  is  taken  from  a  sketch  of  his  life  written  by 
his  son  and  published  in  Vol.  VII.  of  contributions  to 
the  Historical  Society  of  Montana,  after  his  death. 

Cornelius  Hedges  was  a  native  of  Westfield,  Massa- 
chusetts, born  in  1831.  His  father  was  a  blacksmith. 
The  son  received  his  early  education  in  the  public 
schools  and  graduated  from  Yale  College  with  the  class 
of  1853.  After  leaving  Yale  he  attended  Harvard  Law 
School.  In  1864  he  arrived  at  Bannack,  Montana,  re- 
moving to  Helena  in  1865,  which  place  was  his  home 
until  his  death  in  1907.  It  was  not  as  a  lawyer  in  famous 
cases  nor  as  a  rough  and  ready  fighter  in  times  of  dis- 
order that  Mr.  Hedges  exercised  influence  or  earned 
his  standing  among  his  fellow  men.  It  is  related  that 
he  took  "an  active  part  in  the  establishment  of  law  and 
order,  assisting  by  wise  counsel  and  active  support  the 
wresting  of  peace  and  safety  from  the  terror  of  *  *  * 
road  agents."  His  biographer  says  that  "From  1864 
to  1870,  when  Wilson  and  Compton  were  hanged  at 
Helena,  he  was  among  those  who  stood  with  the  Vigi- 
lantes, but  none  were  more  relieved  than  he  when  law 
was  established  and  the  courts  took  into  their  own 
hands  executions,  after  due  trial  by  jury  and  sentence 
by  judge".  The  tribute  is  in  the  announcement,  in  con- 
nection with  this  conduct,  that  "He  was  so  great  a  lover 
of  peace  and  civil  quiet,  that  he  felt  it  a  necessity  of  the 
times  that  a  few  lives  of  notorious  regenades  should  be 
sacrificed  in  order  that  the  many  law-abiding  citizens 
*  *  *  might  build  up  the  homes  he  longed  to  see 
here".  The  same  author  in  the  same  sketch  reveals  an 
influence  in  Vigilante  times  effective  in  improving  those 
times  and  which  has  exercised  great  influence  for  good 


38  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

upon  the  citizencliiD  of  the  state  ever  since.  The  sketch 
says: 

"It  speaks  well  for  a  secret  order,  that  its  fraternal 
ties  are  strong  enough  to  bring  men  together  under 
such  conditions  as  brought  those  early  Masons  to  know 
each  other.  The  supremacy  of  the  'road-agents'  reached 
the  acme  of  its  power  when  the  units  of  society  were 
separated  because  of  not  knowing  each  other.  While 
the  better  elements  cried  for  a  new  order  of  existence, 
the  individuals  were  unknown  to  each  other.  Mass 
meetings  might  bring  together  many  of  those  wishing 
to  inaugurate  a  new  regime.  But  the  work  of  accom- 
plishment, the  actual  execution  of  known  criminals,  who 
would  be  warned,  sheltered  and  assisted  by  many 
friends,  presupposed  a  large,  strong,  growing  sentiment 
among  men  who  had  absolute  confidence  in  each  other. 
It  was  here  that  Masonry  stepped  in,  performing  quiet- 
ly a  great  work  whose  beneficence  has  been  a  blessing 
to  this  whole  State-  like  the  small  spring  flowing  from 
the  mountain  side,  which  gathers  force  as  it  goes  on  in 
ever-increasing  volume,  to  the  accomplishment  of  untold 
good  to  mankind.  We  believe  it  was  this  idea  that  en- 
deared it  to  such  men  as  Wilbur  F.  Sanders,  Judge 
Hedges  and  many  others  conspicuous  in  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  in  our  early  history." 

Mr.  Hedges  had  joined  the  Masonic  Order  in  Iowa 
in  1858.  He  became  affiliated  with  the  Order  in  Mon- 
tana in  1865.  He  became  the  grand  secretary  of  the 
grand  lodge  of  the  state  in  1872  and  retained  that  posi- 
tion until  his  death  thirty-five  years  later.  He  started 
the  first  public  library  in  the  state  at  Helena  in  1868  and 
laid  the  foundation  for  the  important  institution  of  that 
character  now  at  the  state  capital.  In  1872  he  became 
the  first  superintendent  of  public  schools  in  the  territory, 


OF    PIONEER    LEADERS    AND    ABSENTEE    BOSSES         39 

which  at  that  time  had  not  a  mile  of  railroad  within  sev- 
eral hundred  miles  of  its  boundaries,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  travelled  great  distances  to  remote  settlements, 
getting  together  the  few  teachers  obtainable,  and  stimu- 
lating the  work  of  organization  and  advancement  of 
educational  forces.  He  was  one  of  the  group  of  men 
which  made  first  authentic  exploration  of  the  Yellow- 
stone Park  country,  and  was  the  author  of  the  idea  of 
having  it  set  apart  and  maintained  as  a  national  park. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  territorial  constitutional  con- 
vention and  of  the  first  state  senate.  For  years  he  was 
one  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  most  aggressive  paper 
in  Helena,  and  held  official  positions  in  a  variety  of  or- 
ganizations designed  for  civic  and  social  advancement. 
The  wide  scope  of  his  knowledge  of  men  and  experience 
in  affairs  in  Montana  is  indicated  in  one  paragraph  from 
this  sketch  of  his  life : 

"Judge  Hedges  was  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
governors,  judges,  public  officers  and  public  men  of 
Montana  from  the  time  Montana  had  a  separate  name  to 
the  day  of  his  death.  From  James  and  Granville  Stuart, 
the  original  gold  discoverers  in  our  state,  1857,  and 
Henry  Edgar  who  first  'struck  pay  dirt'  in  Alder  gulch, 
1863,  from  X.  Biedler,  John  Williams,  Neil  Howie, 
George  M.  Pinney,  whose  names  were  the  terror  of  the 
'road-agents',  from  Governors  Sydney  Edgerton,  Thomas 
Francis  Meagher  (acting),  Green  Clay  Smith,  from 
Judges  Hosmer,  Munson,  Simms,  Wade,  to  present  su- 
preme court  bench,  from  James  Fergus,  W.  L.  Steele, 
N.  P.  Langford,  on  down  the  long  line  of  pioneers,  he 
had  talked  with  them  all ;  gone  over  with  them  the  days 
of  'Jim'  Bridger  and  of  John  M.  Bozeman.  He  liked  to 
laugh  at  the  gentle  (?)  hint  that  was  given  Acting 
Governor   Meagher,   who,    upon   finding   a   fellow-Irish- 


40  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

man,  James  Daniels,  imprisoned,  and  under  grave  sus- 
picion, saw  fit  to  pardon  him.  The  citizens,  who  had 
been  long  cognizant  of  his  true  character,  as  promptly 
hanged  him  to  the  old  'pine  tree'  gallows ;  and,  thinking 
the  occasion  appropriate,  took  his  Excellency's  pardon 
from  the  dead  man's  pocket,  pinned  it  on  his  back  with 
the  plainly-written  legend :  'If  our  acting  governor  does 
this  again,  we  will  hang  him  too.'  " 

Whatever  the  faults  or  virtues,  the  feuds  or  fads,  of 
these  pioneer  leaders  and  their  immediate  successors, 
there  never  existed  reason  for  the  slightest  suspicion  of 
doubt  regarding  their  loyalty  to  Montana,  their  friend- 
ship to  her  people,  and  their  concern  for  her  prosperity. 
The  greater  part  of  their  wealth  taken  from  the  ground 
found  investment  within  the  state  in  new  enterprise  or 
in  permanent  improvements,  private  and  public.  There 
was  wholesome  rivalry  in  generous  enterprise  and  hon- 
est competition  in  business.  Outside  capital  was  at- 
tracted to  the  profits  of  investment  in  productive  mines, 
but  those  profits  then  were  limited  to  the  earnings  of 
such  invested  capital  without  impoverishing  labor  or 
ruining  the  business  of  individuals  by  the  exercise  of 
monopoly  powers.  The  inexhaustible  mineral  wealth 
of  the  Butte  camp  was  being  mined  by  a  great  number 
of  independent  companies,  each  with  its  own  organiza- 
tion, from  owner  to  mucker,  and  all  with  interests  in 
Butte. 

Less  than  a  decade  of  time  has  been  required  to 
bring  the  mineral  wealth  under  combine  control,  to  dis- 
mantle all  the  half  dozen  great  ore  reduction  works  in 
Butte  which  employed  thousands  of  men ;  to  acquire 
most  of  the  tremendous  water  power  and  electric  power 
resources  of  the  state  to  one  ownership,  together  with 
the  most  valuable  franchises  for  the  public  utilities  of 


OF    PIONEER    LEADERS    AND    ABSENTEE    BOSSES        41 

water  and  light  and  power  in  cities ;  to  bring  the  bank- 
ing interests  of  the  state  practically  under  the  domina- 
tion of  a  single  chain  of  banks  owned  by  the  same  in- 
terest ;  to  compel  the  best  part  of  the  mercantile  inter- 
ests of  the  state  to  pay  tribute  to  these  banks;  to  bring 
the  agencies  and  officers  of  state  and  local  governments 
under  subjection  and  into  service  of  the  same  interests; 
to  reduce  the  profits  of  wage  earners  and  to  make  their 
conditions  in  industrial  centers  little  better  than  those 
of  bond  slaves;  to  transform  the  functions  of  a  public 
press  from  public  service  through  public  information  to 
a  perfectly  organized  machine  for  the  suppression  of 
knowledge  and  the  deception  of  its  patrons.  All  this 
by  the  power  of  lawless  corporate  combination  and  the 
thimble-rigging  of  high  finance,  exercised  by  absentee 
bosses  who  have  gained  possession  of  this  inestimable 
wealth  and  control  of  these  stupendous  influences  with- 
out honest  investment,  honest  purpose,  or  honest  ac- 
counting whatsoever. 

Who  are  these  absentee  bosses? 

They  constitute  a  small  group  among  the  conspicuous 
confidence  operators  of  Wall  Street. 

How  did  they  get  this  enormous  wealth  and  these 
tremendous   powers? 

They  bought  some  of  it  from  the  owners  of  the 
property  and  some  of  it  from  law-makers  and  other 
officials  employed  by  the  public. 

Where  did  they  get  the  money? 

That,  also,  they  got  from  the  public. 

What  did  the  public  get? 

The  public  got  watered  stock  in  a  generously  assorted 
variety  of  mining,  smelting,  water  power  and  public 
utility  companies. 


42  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

Do  the  operators  pay  dividends  on  these  watered 
stocks? 

Only  when  it  suits  their  convenience  and  promotes 
their  efforts  to  unload  more  watered  stocks. 


The  Campaign  For  Monopoly  Control 

During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  twentieth  century, 
this  state,  saved  from  outlaws  by  vigilantes,  was  lost  to 
lawlessness  by  lack  of  vigilance.  The  campaign  for 
monopoly  control  was  planned  in  and  directed  from  New 
York,  under  the  laws  of  New  Jersey.  "The  Story  of 
Amalgamated",  richly  embellished  with  picturesque 
phrasing  to  run  as  a  serial  in  a  leading  magazine,  and 
which  afforded  the  sensation  of  a  year  among  the  lambs 
of  the  stock  gamblers'  world,  and  the  pigeons  of  Amer- 
ican society,  as  the  first  authentic  exposure  of  "the 
system"  in  "high  finance",  was  little  more  or  better  than 
an  uncompleted  chapter  in  the  story  of  the  campaign  for 
monopoly  control  in  and  over  Montana. 

The  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  was  organized 
and  floated  by  H.  H.  Rogers,  closely  associated  with 
other  members  of  the  money  trust  of  America,  with  de- 
sign to  do  with  the  copper  business  what  they  had  done 
with  the  oil  business  of  the  world  and  what  they  had 
made  fair  beginning  to  do  in  the  steel  industry,  in  trans- 
portation, and  in  numerous  less  important  branches  of 
bread-winning  enterprise.  What  was  known  as  the 
Standard  Oil  group  of  money  kings  was  then  supreme 
in  Wall  Street.  The  Amalgamated  Company,  like  the 
others,  was  to  be  a  benevolent  trust,  designed  to  reduce 
the  cost  of  the  product  by  increasing  the  economies  of 
production. 

In  the  strifes  and  struggles  growing  out  of  this  ven- 
ture, a  few  of  which  have  been  referred  to  in  previous 
chapters  relating    to    Montana    affairs,    formidable    ob- 

[43] 


44  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

stacles  were  met  and  serious  temporary  defeats  en- 
countered. The  stock  gamblers'  panic  of  1907  was  an 
outgrowth  of,  as  well  as  an  almost  fatal  blow  to,  the 
conspiracy.  How  infinitesimal  individuals  become  in 
these  combats  between  organized  greed  and  human  in- 
terests, and  how  absurd  and  vain  the  pretensions  of  the 
Lawsons,  Coles  and  Ryans,  and  other  high  corporals  in 
the  promotion  forces  of  corporate  achievement,  is  re- 
vealed by  the  fact  that  in  one  of  the  battles  of  this  con- 
test the  commanding  general,  Rogers,  lost  much  of  his 
fortune  to  rivals  in  the  game  and  sacrificed  his  life 
through  exhaustion  of  his  almost  matchless  energy  and 
nerve  and  ability  in  the  fight;  Amalgamated  itself, 
menaced  by  law,  discredited  in  public  confidence  and 
depreciated  in  market  value,  was  prepared  for  dissolu- 
tion, while  a  mere  subsidiary  company  of  the  organiza- 
tion, given  new  powers  by  special  laws  corruptly  pro- 
cured in  Montana,  was  equipped  as  a  vehicle  to  carry 
the  load  and  to  forward  the  work  of  acquisition  and 
abuse  of  power,  with  new  agents  but  with  the  old  in- 
tangible, insatiable,  irresistible  power  of  incorporate 
avarice  in  control,  and  in  command,  and  in  Wall  Street. 
It  was  a  long,  rough  road,  paved  with  fraud  and 
crime,  from  the  conception  of  the  copper  combine  in  the 
east  to  the  consummation  of  possession  under  one  man- 
agement of  most  of  the  productive  wealth  of  Montana. 
Men  like  Daly  and  Clark  and  Heinze,  with  means  for  as 
well  as  experience  in  warfare,  were  able  to  command 
terms  which  gave  them  all  that  their  properties  were 
worth  to  secure  their  removal  from  the  field  of  competi- 
tion, or  cooperation  with  the  combine,  as  in  the  case  of 
Mr.  Daly.  While  the  amalgamation  of  these  interests 
was  being  accomplished  during  a  period  of  a  dozen  years, 
lesser  interests  and  influences  were  being  absorbed  or 


THE    CAMPAIGN    FOR    MONOPOLY    CONTROL  45 

destroyed,  as  conditions  made  most  favorable  opportun- 
ity. Even  in  the  earlier  times  of  fiercest  strife,  mutual 
interest  in  ability  to  exercise  large  powers  by  corpora- 
tions made  it  possible  to  unite  rival  influences  to  secure 
legislation  to  validate  combinations  of  corporate  owner- 
ships prohibited  by  constitutional  and  statute  law  of  the 
state.  The  use  of  political  organizations  in  private  busi- 
ness had  become  a  habit  of  corporation  management  in 
the  United  States  before  Montana  was  admitted  to  the 
Union.  It  was  a  habit  much  in  vogue  in  that  state  from 
the  start.  Voters  were  divided  in  their  minds  by  parti- 
san lines,  but  politicians  early  were  taught  the  value  of 
an  open  mind  in  their  business.  Since  the  first  defeat 
of  Heinze  in  a  political  campaign  in  1904  there  has  been 
in  Montana  no  important  political  convention  of  any 
party,  with  strength  worth  consideration,  which  has  not 
been  subject  to  the  influence  and  the  contributions  of 
agents  and  local  bosses  of  the  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company. 

With  the  state  almost  evenly  divided  between  the 
two  principal  political  parties,  this  corporation  has  had 
small  difficulty  in  holding  a  balance  of  power  by  con- 
trol of  votes  in  the  industrial  centers  where  its  interests 
dominated.  The  prizes  and  rewards  of  politics  have 
been  so  equitably  divided  as  regards  parties  that  influ- 
ential men  in  both  parties  have  been  kept  under  con- 
tinuing obligation  to  the  corporate  power,  while  those 
who  aspired  to  distinction  through  faithful  public  ser- 
vice or  honest  opposition  to  dishonest  policies  of  gov- 
ernment have  been  taught,  through  punishment  or  de- 
feat, the  dangers  of  such  a  course;  and  at  the  same  time 
have  furnished  a  deterring  example  to  other  men  with 
ambitions.  The  care  with  which  this  policy  has  been 
pursued  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  during  all  the 


46  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

years  of  Amalgamated  participation  in  politics  in  effec- 
tive way  there  has  been  a  democratic  governor,  with 
some  other  state  officers  from  the  opposition  party,  and 
victory  for  republican  candidates  for  congress  and  presi- 
dential electors  with  uniform  regularity,  regardless  of 
whether  the  head  of  the  Amalgamated  Company  in  New 
York  and  its  managing  director  in  Montana  were  self- 
styled  republicans  or  democrats.  There  has  not  been  a 
session  of  the  legislature  within  the  state  during  the 
present  century  which  has  not  enacted  special  laws, 
usually  in  conflict  with  constitutional  inhibition  against 
such  laws,  to  legalize  or  validate  some  step  in  the  per- 
fection of  the  copper  combine's  organization,  secured  by 
bribery  or  intimidation  practiced  by  lobbyists  for  the 
company,  who  have  been  active  not  only  in  the  lobbies 
but  upon  the  floors  and  in  the  seats  of  members  of  both 
branches  of  the  legislature.  The  controlling  influence  of 
these  lobbyists  in  the  organizations  of  the  legislative 
departments,  and  in  the  appointment  of  committees 
which  determine  what  measures  shall  be  advanced  and 
what  defeated,  has  been  flagrant  and  notorious. 

The  reason  for  the  support  of  the  republican  party 
candidates  by  this  combine  influence  in  national  affairs 
has  been  shown  by  results,  even  if  it  could  not  be  readily 
understood  during  years  of  republican  control  in  nation- 
al government.  There  has  not  been  a  year  since  its  or- 
ganization when  the  Amalgamated  Company  or  its  con- 
stituent organizations  did  not  have  important  questions 
before  the  federal  courts  of  Montana.  There  has  not 
been  a  federal  judge  in  Montana  during  the  dozen  years, 
and  with  four  different  men  holding  that  position  during 
that  time,  who  has  not  been  known  at  least  as  "friend- 
ly" to  the  Amalgamated  political  managers  or  interests 
in  the  state.    These  political  influences  or  agencies  have 


THE    CAMPAIGN    FOR    MONOPOLY    CONTROL  47 

been  conspicuous  twice  within  that  time  in  securing  the 
appointment  or  confirmation  of  federal  judges,  and  ef- 
ficient at  least  once  in  opposition  to  such  promotion  for 
an  honest,  capable,  experienced  member  of  the  state 
judiciary  who  had  the  endorsement  for  appointment  of 
practically  all  the  bar  and  the  people  of  the  state  not 
subject  to  Amalgamated  control.  The  accuracy  of  the 
statement  that  genius  consists  in  the  capacity  for  in- 
finite attention  to  details  is  confirmed  by  the  genius  of 
this  monopoly  institution.  Federal  judges  are  import- 
ant in  its  business;  but  postmasterships  and  the  most 
insignificant  crumbs  of  government  patronage  are  use- 
ful as  rewards  to  supporters  and  as  means  to  lighten  the 
load  upon  the  political  pay  roll  of  the  all-absorbing  or- 
ganization; even  if  the  sworn  testimony  in  official  rec- 
ord of  the  United  States  senate  did  not  show  that  the 
corporations'  most  efficient  and  unscrupulous  political 
operator  had  in  emergency  found  it  necessary  to  break 
the  seal  of  private  correspondence  in  search  of  informa- 
tion, and  thus  illustrated  that  there  may  be  times  when 
facilities  for  access  to  the  mails  are  beneficial  to  certain 
interests. 

The  first  departure  in  this  rule  of  success  for  repub- 
lican candidates  for  national  office  came  in  the  election 
of  1910,  when  a  democratic  legislature  was  elected  to 
insure  the  defeat  of  a  republican  candidate  for  re-elec- 
tion to  the  United  States  senate.  This  e»xception  proved 
the  rule.  The  republican  thus  defeated  had  become 
notorious  as  a  corporate  tool.  He  was  defeated  in  re- 
publican counties  by  republican  votes  for  democratic 
candidates  for  the  legislature.  This  result  obtained  in 
almost  every  one  of  the  agricultural  and  livestock  rais- 
ing counties  of  the  state  where  independent  republican 
voters  lived;  yet  with  this  result  in  republican  counties, 


48  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

and  in  an  election  when  democrats  were  sweeping  the 
country  in  other  states,  this  unfaithful  republican  sen- 
ator was  almost  victorious  in  Montana  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  every  effort  conceivable  within  the  power  or 
direction  of  the  Amalgamated  organization  was  exer- 
cised in  his  interest  in  the  democratic  counties  of  Silver 
Bow,  Deer  Lodge  and  Cascade,  where  company  influ- 
ences are  greatest,  with  the  consequence  that  republi- 
can candidates  were  returned  from  these  counties  with 
open  support  of  lifelong  democrats  directly  employed 
by  the  company. 

To  summarize  this  feature  of  political  control,  it  is 
concisely  and  exactly  true  to  state  that  the  Amalgamated 
Copper  Company  and  its  constituent  interests  have  bet- 
ter organization  and  control  in  both  of  the  principal  po- 
litical parties  within  the  state  of  Montana  than  either 
party  possesses  of  and  for  itself.  Under  such  conditions, 
it  is  apparent  that  this  control  will  endure  so  long  as  cit- 
izens of  the  state  can  be  persuaded  to  divide  along  exist- 
ing party  lines  at  the  polls.  It  could  not  endure  through 
a  single  campaign  if  citizens  would  exercise  the  same 
non-partisan  intelligence  displayed  by  the  corporate 
managers;  but  it  could  not  have  obtained  in  the  first 
place  without  the  aid  of  unyielding  loyalty  to  party, 
born  quite  as  often  from  prejudice  and  ignorance  as 
from  patriotism  and  knowledge.  The  only  question  of 
general  importance  to  a  free  people  actually  involved  in 
any  political  campaign  in  Montana  in  a  dozen  years  has 
been  whether  the  rights  and  powers  and  benefits  of  gov- 
ernment should  be  restored  to  the  people  of  the  state 
or  continued  as  an  asset  and  influence  of  alien  corporate 
combine  through  corrupted  public  servants.  There  has 
been  no  campaign  in  which  this  question  has  not  been 
raised  in  some  form.     There  has  been  none  in  which  it 


THE    CAMPAIGN    FOR    MONOPOLY    CONTROL  49 

was  not  obscured  or  hidden  by  false  issues  or  clamorous 
contention  between  partisan  forces  directed  alike  from 
combine  headquarters.  It  is  a  frequent  political  spec- 
tacle in  Montana  to  see  the  chief  leaders  and  organs  of 
rival  political  organizations  all  charging  each  other  with 
being  owned  and  operated  by  the  copper  combine  in 
opposition  to  honest  government  and  public  interests ; 
and  all  telling  the  truth  in  this  important  particular  and 
in  no  other  throughout  the  contest.  The  organization  is 
at  once  so  complex  and  so  perfect  that  its  several  parts 
can  be  made  to  work  harmoniously  for  results  independ- 
ently, in  conflict,  or  together.  The  combine  lobbyists 
have  been  known  to  put  the  combine  brand  upon  one 
combine  agent  to  promote  the  candidacy  of  another 
less  well  known  to  the  public  but  no  less  completely 
under  control  and  selected  to  serve  upon  an  opposition 
ticket.  Under  an  arrangement  where  men  working  for 
the  same  employers  and  paid  from  the  same  corruption 
fund  can  be  made  to  act  in  ignorance  of  the  true  em- 
ployment of  each  other,  it  is  not  surprising  that  ordinary 
voters  are  kept  in  doubt  or  misled  with  respect  to  the 
character  of  candidates.  And  all  the  time  the  work  of 
recruiting  the  forces  goes  on  within  both  party  organiza- 
tions, with  all  the  arguments  afforded  by  ability  to  re- 
ward services  with  public  flattery,  with  promise  of 
power,  with  real  money  on  the  one  hand,  or  with  dis- 
grace, defeat  and  destruction  of  business  on  the  other. 
Honorable  men  with  worthy  ambitions,  strong  in 
public  esteem,  are  given  pause  in  patriotic  impulse  by 
the  power  of  their  party  organizations.  At  the  same 
time  dishonorable  men  with  unworthy  ambitions,  weak 
in  public  respect,  are  permitted  to  secure  responsible 
offices  in  recognition  of  party  loyalty,  and  yet  are  ex- 
pected to  resist  the  influences  powerful  enough  to  con- 
trol all  the  parties. 


50  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

In  the  first  political  contest  wherein  the  then  young 
copper  combine  sought  to  determine  the  result  of  elec- 
tion in  Montana,  it  was  a  boast  which  became  a  part  of 
the  printed  record  of  the  campaign,  that  it  cost  the 
Amalgamated  Company  and  its  allies  $80,000  to  keep 
Joseph  K.  Toole  out  of  a  democratic  state  convention 
as  a  delegate  from  the  county  of  Lewis  and  Clark;  but 
Joseph  K.  Toole  had  the  confidence  of  the  people  and 
such  exclusion  at  that  time  was  not  enough  to  prevent 
his  election  to  the  office  of  governor  by  popular  vote. 
In  the  early  litigation  between  Heinze  and  Amalga- 
mated interests  it  became  a  part  of  the  court  records 
through  sworn  testimony  that  the  copper  combine, 
through  its  legal  department  and  other  employees  or 
agencies,  had  endeavored  to  persuade  a  district  judge 
of  Silver  Bow  county  to  confess  subjection  to  corrupt 
influence  and  resign  his  office,  the  argument  offered  in 
persuasion  reaching  to  an  offer  of  $200,000.  These  are 
mere  incidents  of  history,  illustrating  the  extravagance 
and  inefficient  methods  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  cam- 
paign for  monopoly  control,  which  serve  at  once  to  prove 
and  to  emphasize  the  great  advancement  which  has 
been  made  in  economy  as  well  as  in  efficiency  by  prac- 
tice and  growth.  The  last  time  Joseph  K.  Toole  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  governor  he  was  supported  cor- 
dially and  with  crooked  and  corrupt  practices  by  the 
Montana  managers  of  the  copper  combine  and  his  ad- 
ministration received  most  hearty  commendation  from 
the  same  organs  and  agents  of  its  interests  which  for- 
merly had  viciously  and  vainly  opposed  him.  Today 
every  district  judge  in  Silver  Bow  county  is  indebted 
for  both  selection  and  election  to  employees  and  agents 
of  the  copper  combine,  the  administration  of  justice  in 
Silver  Bow  county  is  in  entire  harmony  with  the  public 


THE    CAMPAIGN    FOR    MONOPOLY    CONTROL  51 

policies  and  pronouncements  of  the  combine,  and  there 
is  no  suspicion  manifest  that  real  or  proffered  compen- 
sation for  judicial  services  is  different  or  greater  than 
that  designated  by  law  as  salary  to  be  paid  by  the  tax- 
payers. It  is  the  policy  to  create  public  sentiment 
rather  than  to  combat  it.  It  is  cheaper  to  elect  friendly 
public  officials  than  to  persuade  unfriendly  ones.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  endeavor  to  recall  public  officials  by 
sordid  appeal  when  the  same  interest  can  control  all 
political  conventions  and  exercise  a  balance  of  power 
between  parties  at  all  elections.  It  is  not  impossible  to 
control  all  conventions  and  to  exercise  such  balance  of 
power  when  the  same  interest  employs  most  of  the 
politicians,  owns  or  controls  nearly  all  of  the  news- 
papers, directs  the  management  of  the  principal  banks 
which  fix  the  credit  of  most  business  men,  and  maintains 
supervisory  control  over  the  employment  of  wage- 
earners  in  most  gainful  occupations  in  the  state,  public 
and  private. 

Originally  abundance  of  resources  gave  large  and 
effective  power  of  reward.  Eventually  considerations 
of  economy,  as  well  as  of  security  against  public  scandal 
and  resentment,  prompted  the  managers  to  substitute 
punishments  for  rewards  as  inducements  or  incentives 
to  action.  The  high  federal  court  for  the  district  of 
Montana  determined  that  a  boycott  by  members  of  a 
labor  organization  constituted  an  unlawful  conspiracy 
and  punished  several  members  of  such  an  organization 
for  endeavoring  to  influence  the  public  against  patroniz- 
ing in  Montana  an  eastern  manufacturer  of  paper  pat- 
terns for  women's  and  children's  frocks,  who  in  some 
way  employed  non-union  labor.  The  supreme  court  of 
the  state  of  Montana  in  a  learned  opinion  determined 
in  effect  that  a  boycott  was  not  a  conspiracy  or  a  crime 


52  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

under  the  laws  of  Montana.  Meanwhile  the  corporate 
combine  which  dominates  the  state  has  systematically, 
effectively  and  mercilessly  used  the  boycott  against 
wage-earners  and  labor  organizations,  against  profes- 
sional men,  business  houses,  newspapers,  public  officers, 
and  anything  or  anybody  which  it  could  reach  and  could 
not  make  auxiliary  to  its  control  of  government,  of  busi- 
ness, and  of  people,  within  Montana.  No  victim  of  this 
exercise  of  lawlessness  has  as  yet  sought  remedy  or  re- 
lief through  court  proceedings,  and  no  public  servant 
entrusted  with  the  duty  of  enforcing  the  criminal  laws 
has  found  occasion  to  prosecute  the  offenders  as  hap- 
pened when  they  represented  the  wage-earners  of  the 
country  instead  of  the  combines  of  Wall  Street. 

When  the  enterprise  of  creating  a  monopolistic  con- 
trol of  the  copper-producing  industry  was  started,  ap- 
parently the  projectors  had  no  concern  for  any  other 
wealth  of  Montana  than  that  contained  within  the  cop- 
per mines.  Their  interest  in  the  law  and  its  adminis- 
tration at  that  time  seemingly  did  not  extend  beyond 
preventing  interference  with  their  plans.  The  war 
waged  against  them  by  other  copper  interests'  operators 
furnished  a  necessity  for  some  of  their  political  activities, 
and  the  excuse  which  they  have  made  conspicuous  in 
attempted  justification  of  all  of  them.  Recurring  ob- 
stacles, in  and  out  of  the  state,  in  the  way  of  completion 
of  the  work  of  monopolizing  the  copper  business,  com- 
pelled the  promoters  to  fortify  the  combine  against  at- 
tack from  national  as  well  as  state  officers  of  the  law. 
During  this  time  there  came  a  realization  of  the  incal- 
culable value  of  water  power  with  the  multiplying  uses 
of  electricity,  and  a  comprehension  of  the  opportunities 
for  multiplied  profits  through  the  transmission  of  this 
power    and    control    of    public    utilities    in    cities.     An 


THE    CAMPAIGN    FOR    MONOPOLY    CONTROL  53 

aroused  public  sentiment  throughout  the  country 
against  the  great  combinations  in  control  of  industry 
and  commerce,  with  consequent  prosecution  of  various 
combines  by  national  authorities,  placed  in  new  jeopardy 
the  scheme  for  a  copper  monopoly  as  organized  on  the 
approved  trust  plan  under  New  Jersey  laws.  All  of 
these  conditions  contributed  incentive  to  efforts  for  new 
enterprise  and  new  powers  for  the  copper  combine  en- 
gineers in  Montana.  On  his  first  and  only  visit  to  the 
state,  soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Amalgamated 
Company,  the  late  H.  H.  Rogers,  then  president  of  the 
company,  announced  the  policy  to  be  to  dispose  of  com- 
pany stores  and  other  allied  interests,  and  to  confine 
the  business  of  the  company  to  mining  and  selling  cop- 
per. The  conduct  of  affairs  for  a  time  following  his  visit 
indicated  honesty  in  his  statement.  If  he  changed  his 
purpose  the  fact  never  was  made  known  in  Montana. 
Following  his  death  came  the  change  in  policy  and  in 
plan  of  operation  which  involved  as  a  necessary  part 
of  success  the  complete  control  of  government  and 
courts,  and  the  extension  of  influence  to  all  parts  of  the 
state  where  there  were  water  powers  to  be  grabbed  and 
developed,  or  cities  to  be  supplied  with  public  utilities 
at  prices  to  insure  large  profits.  The  field  had  been 
made  fertile  for  these  efforts  by  previous  corruption  of 
political  and  public  agencies.  Honest  ambitions  had 
been  discouraged  by  defeat  and  honest  citizens  had  been 
disgusted  with  results.  Dangerous  rivalries  had  been 
removed  and  formidable  adversaries  had  been  retired 
or  pacified.  All  that  remained  was  mere  matter  of  de- 
tail performance.  These  details  furnished  the  comical 
history  of  Montana,  the  story  of  the  ruling  and  robbing 
of  a  great  state  by  pigmy  intellect  and  statesmanship, 
under  the  direction  and  for  the  benefit  of  bandits  of  high 
finance  in  New  York;  with  applause  by  the  victims. 


Some  Field  Marshals  of  Napoleons  of  Finance 

Not  the  least  wonderful  among  the  marvelous 
changes  in  the  life  of  the  present  generation  is  that 
which  marks  the  transformation  of  rule  in  a  young 
American  state  from  the  pioneer  leader  to  the  modern 
political  and  industrial  boss.  The  one,  with  rare  in- 
dividual courage  and  with  the  risk  of  death,  did  lawful 
things  in  an  unlawful  way  to  establish  security  for  life 
and  property,  to  maintain  order  and  to  do  justice;  the 
other,  with  cowardly  instinct  and  knavish  propensity, 
does  unlawful  things  in  lawful  way  to  pervert  organized 
power,  to  defeat  justice,  and  to  despoil  his  neighbor  of 
rights  and  property.  The  pioneer  played  the  part  of  a 
man  with  pride  of  good  reputation  to  preserve  on  earth 
and  some  sense  of  existence  of  souls  to  be  saved  for 
eternity;  the  corporation  corruptionist  represents  in 
purpose  and  performance  an  organized  power  designed 
by  crooks  to  overreach  their  fellow  men  while  avoiding 
personal  responsibility  for  their  crimes.  The  eminent 
rogue,  perfect  in  evil  accomplishment,  is  no  less  a  de- 
velopment of  environment,  opportunity,  civilization  and 
evolution,  than  a  Washington,  a  Lincoln,  or  the  tramp. 

More  than  one  field  marshal  has  been  required  in 
the  conquest  of  Montana.  All  the  power  and  wealth  of 
the  kings  of  Wall  Street  could  not  persuade  Mr.  William 
Scallon  to  become  a  rascal.  Acquisition  of  all  the  power 
and  wealth  in  Wall  Street  cannot  make  Mr.  John  D. 
Ryan  less  than  a  conscienceless  rogue.  In  the  modern 
school  of  "High  Finance"  and  "Big  Business",  the  first 
represents    conspicuous     failure    and    the     second    pre- 

[55] 


56  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

eminent  success.  Each  was  entrusted  with  the  great 
power  of  direction  of  combine  enterprise  in  Montana. 
Each  by  individual  character  and  effort  exercised  a 
potent  influence  in  the  affairs  of  the  state.  The  first, 
in  good  faith  and  with  constant  concern  for  public  in- 
terests and  the  rights  of  humanity,  labored  vainly  to 
put  in  practice  the  theory  that  there  can  be  good  trusts 
and  benevolent  despotisms  in  harmony  with  free  gov- 
ernment and  equal  rights.  The  other,  with  single  de- 
votion to  avarice  and  with  great  resource  of  duplicity 
and  chicane,  attained  power  by  much  aptness  and  ability 
in  preempting  claims  to  dead  men's  business  shoes,  ac- 
quired high  rank  among  the  leaders  in  rapacity,  and 
enormous  wealth  through  control  of  vast  estates  and  by 
swindling  the  public  through  most  flagrantly  dishonest 
stock-jobbing  operations  on  mammoth  scale. 

In  character,  ideals  and  performance  these  two  men 
present  excellent  types  of  what  became  known  as  the 
Progressive  and  the  Reactionary  or  "Standpatter"  in 
American  life.  They  exemplify,  if  they  do  not  person- 
ify, the  causes  and  interests  of  the  great  conflict  in  pro- 
gress throughout  the  nation  which  is  disturbing  busi- 
ness, disrupting  political  parties  and  distressing  society. 
Friends  for  years,  co-religionists,  mutually  indebted  for 
support  and  counsel,  employed  by  the  same  interests — 
disagreement,  conflict  and  separation  between  them  be- 
came as  irrepressible  as  between  an  abolitionist  and 
slave-holder  in  the  '60s,  as  inevitable  as  strife  between 
La  Follette  and  Aldrich,  Roosevelt  and  Taft,  Bryan  and 
Boss  Murphy,  during  present  times. 

As  a  young  attorney  seeking  location,  Mr.  Scallon 
entered  Montana  about  the  time  of  the  ripening  of  the 
Clark-Daly  feud.  With  singleness  of  purpose  and  fidel- 
ity, which  marks  all  his  relations  in  life,  he  applied  him- 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  57 

self  to  the  work  of  his  profession.  This  was  rewarded, 
after  some  years  of  struggle  for  mere  means  of  existence, 
with  success  which  attracted  the  attention  of  Marcus 
Daly,  and  Mr.  Scallon  became  the  personal  adviser  as 
well  as  the  legal  counsel  in  Mr.  Daly's  great  business 
affairs,  a  connection  which  continued  during  the  life  of 
the  client.  With  his  time  fully  occupied  and  well  re- 
munerated by  professional  work,  strong  in  principles 
and  scrupulous  in  methods,  Mr.  Scallon  had  neither  in- 
clination nor  occasion  for  part  in  the  political  strifes  of 
those  days.  When  Mr.  Daly  merged  his  properties  and 
interests  with  the  newly  organized  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany, and  a  man  was  needed  in  Montana  to  take  charge 
of  the  direction  of  affairs,  it  happened  naturally  enough 
that  the  choice  should  fall  on  Mr.  Scallon.  Whatever 
the  faults  of  the  late  H.  H.  Rogers  as  a  monopoly  maker 
or  a  stock  speculator,  the  conduct  of  his  enterprises  re- 
vealed persistent  regard  for  public  opinion  on  the  one 
hand  and  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  capable  and 
reliable  men  for  employment  on  the  other.  Wage  wars 
or  attacks  against  public  sentiment  formed  no  part  of  his 
campaigns  for  riches.  A  good  fighter  himself,  he 
realized  the  value  of  zeal  and  reliability  in  his  forces. 
If  he  anticipated  ''copper  wars"  to  follow  the  creation 
of  the  big  combine,  he  did  nothing  beyond  the  organiza- 
tion itself  to  provoke  them.  Whatever  the  purpose,  the 
policy  of  operations  was  to  find  economy  in  modern  in- 
ventions and  appliances,  by  increased  capacity  of  pro- 
duction and  efficiency  in  operations  and  management, 
rather  than  in  wage  reductions,  "pluck-me"  stores,  and 
kindred  forms  of  petty  larceny  on  employees  and  public. 
The  fact  is  that  during  the  first  few  years  of  Amalga- 
mated existence,  and  all  the  time  in  which  Mr.  Scallon 
was   connected   with   the   enterprise,   the   company   was 


58  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

on  the  defensive,  fighting  for  existence,  so  far  as  Mon- 
tana conditions  were  concerned.  It  would  have  been 
difficult  to  have  found  a  man  better  qualified  to  be  the 
company's  chief  representative  and  director  in  the  state 
if  the  business  could  have  been  conducted  without 
piratical  attack,  as  a  legitimate  mining  business  with 
the  chief  view  to  insuring  honesty  in  management  and 
public  confidence  and  approval.  It  would  have  been 
quite  as  difficult  to  have  found  a  man  less  well  qualified 
than  Mr  Scallon  to  command  the  forces  in  such  a  war- 
fare as  followed.  His  ability  as  an  organizer  and  in  the 
conduct  of  large  industry  was  shown  by  the  fact  that 
following  his  retirement  there  was  almost  no  change 
in  the  personnel  of  employees  in  responsible  positions 
other  than  those  due  to  the  abolishment  of  places 
through  consolidation  of  corporate  organizations  and 
the  abandonment  of  subsidiary  plants  in  consequence. 

Against  such  warfare  as  the  Heinze  forces  waged, 
Mr.  Scallon  was  a  poor  antagonist,  if  there  is  anything 
in  the  theory  that  the  devil  is  best  fought  with  fire.  The 
weapons  employed  included  anything  in  lawlessness 
from  bribery  to  murder.  Falsehood,  scandal,  and  every 
conceivable  form  of  trickery  and  dishonest  contrivance 
— in  politics,  in  litigation,  and  in  mining  operations — 
were  mere  incidents  of  the  combat.  The  corruption  of 
government  agencies  extended  from  the  voter  at  the 
primary  to  judges  in  courts  of  last  resort.  To  make  a 
man  like  Mr.  Scallon — with  high  ideals  and  a  strong 
sense  of  justice  founded  on  profound  faith  in  correct 
principles  of  law,  firmly  attached  to  method  by  right 
rules  of  conduct,  as  modest  as  a  good  woman,  sensitive 
to  the  point  of  pain,  personally  brave  to  the  extreme  of 
recklessness,  a  devout  christian — to  make  such  a  man 
at  once  the  leader  and  the  target,  was  to  practice  cruelty 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  59 

upon  every  quality  of  his  nature  and  make  his  most 
conspicuous  virtues  appear  and  be  weaknesses  for  the 
struggle.  While  his  honest  pride  rebelled  and  his  de- 
cent impulses  revolted  against  the  necessity  of  meeting 
the  attacks  of  the  enemy  with  similar  arguments  and 
appeals  to  degraded  human-kind,  a  high  regard  for  duty 
to  those  who  employed  him,  no  less  than  righteous  re- 
sentment against  the  scoundrelism  which  prevailed, 
added  to  his  perplexities.  These  were  increased  by  con- 
ditions of  a  situation  where  a  maze  of  lawsuits,  based 
on  every  imaginable  pretext  of  cause  of  action,  made  it 
necessary  to  preserve  separate  complete  organizations 
of  different  companies  and  properties,  under  nominal 
control  of  the  Amalgamated  corporation,  resulting  in 
divided  authority  and  a  "multitude  of  counsel"  more 
productive  of  confusion  than  added  wisdom.  With 
promptings  which  may  be  readily  conjectured  from  the 
foregoing  statement  of  conditions,  Mr.  Scallon  repeat- 
edly tendered  his  resignation  in  New  York.  Mr.  Rogers 
persistently  urged  him  to  retain  his  place  and  to  permit 
details  of  the  conflict  repugnant  to  him  to  be  cared 
for  by  others. 

Late  in  1903  the  outrages  by  judges  in  Silver  Bow 
county  controlled  by  Heinze  became  so  flagrant  that  it 
was  "judicially"  determined  by  them  that  the  Amalga- 
mated organization  was  an  outlaw  without  rights  to 
exist  or  to  conduct  business  within  the  state.  Mines 
and  smelters  closed,  the  mere  mercenaries  who  had  ruled 
in  Butte  were  temporarily  brought  to  some  sense  of 
right  by  impending  necessities,  decent  public  sentiment 
throughout  the  state  asserted  itself,  the  legislature  was 
convened  and  enacted  a  law  giving  to  clients  a  right  of 
change  of  venue  or  place  of  trial  from  biased  or  dis- 
qualified judges,  and  Heinze's  power  through  exclusive 


60  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

jurisdiction  of  courts  of  Silver  Bow  county  was  des- 
troyed. Two  months  later  Mr.  Scallon  persuaded  Mr. 
Rogers  to  accept  his  resignation  and  relieve  him  from  a 
situation  which  had  become  intolerable  to  him.  From 
that  time  to  this,  Mr.  Scallon  has  refused  offers  of  po- 
sition or  retainers  from  the  Amalgamated  Company  and 
all  of  its  allied  interests.  He  reopened  his  private  law 
office  and  remained  in  Butte  for  several  years.  His 
consistent  refusal  to  accept  cases  either  for  or  against 
the  interests  which  he  had  formerly  directed  in  the  state, 
in  effect,  deprived  him  of  opportunity  for  professional 
business  in  what  had  become  practically  a  one-company 
town.  Meantime  he  applied  himself  to  the  improvement 
of  conditions  with  which  his  experience  in  the  "copper 
wars"  necessarily  had  made  him  familiar.  He  took  ac- 
tive part  in  the  organization  of  a  civic  league  and  waged 
a  war  against  lawlessness,  which  closed  open  gambling 
in  the  Montana  metropolis  in  earnest  for  the  first  time 
since  the  camp  was  discovered;  and  he  did  it  without 
either  fear  or  ostentation,  notwithstanding  that  the  law- 
less interests  ruled  the  town  alike  in  official  and  business 
circles,  and  that  some  of  their  agents,  worthy  of  the  task, 
went  about  with  weapons  and  avowed  determination  to 
end  the  campaign  by  desperate  means.  He  went  to  the 
legislature  as  a  member  and  secured  the  enactment  of 
the  most  comprehensive  anti-gambling  law  upon  the 
books  of  any  state,  and  of  statutes  efficient  to  wipe  out 
wine  rooms  and  dens  for  the  destruction  of  woman's 
virtue,  even  in  Butte.  While  at  the  head  of  Amalga- 
mated affairs  he  not  only  rivaled  but  alarmed  the  prac- 
tical politicians  with  platform  pronouncements  for  re- 
form laws,  and  he  went  beyond  the  rivalry  and  alarmed 
them  still  more  by  aiding  to  secure  the  enactment  of 
such   laws.      He   was   a   progressive   republican,   honest 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  61 

and  consistent,  while  yet  the  nominal  directing  head  in 
the  contest  which  was  to  establish  in  Montana  a  com- 
bine monopoly.  He  surrendered  a  salary  sufficient  for 
president  of  the  United  States  in  voluntarily  resigning 
that  position.  He  expended,  in  working  for  the  better- 
ment of  conditions  and  improved  laws  and  in  generous 
aid  to  those  in  need,  more  than  all  that  he  had  saved. 
An  incident  of  the  "copper  war",  at  the  time  of  its  most 
extreme  emergency,  reveals  at  once  the  character  of  the 
man  and  why,  to  use  a  pet  phrase  of  a  high  commander 
of  high  finance,  he  is  "an  impossible"  in  big  business. 
It  was  the  day  Judge  Clancy  handed  down  his  decision 
declaring  the  Amalgamated  Company  without  lawful 
existence  or  right  to  do  business  in  Montana.  Orders 
had  been  issued  to  close  mines  and  smelters,  and  the 
preliminaries  necessary  for  stopping  operations  employ- 
ing some  fifteen  thousand  men  were  in  progress.  Mr. 
Scallon  had  gone  to  Anaconda  in  connection  with  meas- 
ures for  the  protection  of  the  great  property  interests  in 
the  smelters  there.  One  of  the  subordinates  summoned 
to  meet  him  at  the  hotel  found  him  sitting  alone  and  de- 
jected in  a  private  office.  Mr.  Scallon  inquired  of  the 
caller  if  he  believed  the  shut-down  was  justified. 

"Certainly.  There  was  nothing  else  to  do  under 
Clancy's  decision." 

"Of  course,  I  know  that,"  mournfully  responded  the 
Montana  representative  of  a  soulless  combine.  "I  was 
not  thinking  of  that.  I  was  thinking  of  all  these  thou- 
sands of  men  being  thrown  out  of  work  on  the  eve  of 
winter." 

He  was  protecting  the  property  and  the  interests  and 
the  rights  of  the  corporation.  He  was  thinking  of  hu- 
manity. 

Mr.  Scallon  removed  to  New  York  city  to  engage  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  1910.     At  that  time  the 


62  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

writer,  then  an  editor  in  Montana,  published  the  follow- 
ing article,  reproduced  here  as  timely  illustration  of  the 
change  which  comes  to  public  sentiment  as  well  as  to 
public  affairs  and  public  men  when  a  corrupt  combine 
controls  a  state : 

"OF   A    GOOD    MAN    GONE   TO    NEW   YORK" 
"In   the    removal    of   Mr.    William    Scallon   to    New 
York  this  week,  the  state  of  Montana  loses  one  of  her 
most  useful  and   most   loyal   citizens,   one  of  her  most 
admirable  and  lovable  men. 

"It  will  surprise  some  among  quite  intimate  friends 
of  Mr.  Scallon  in  Montana  to  learn  that  he  left  the  state 
because  he  possesses  no  other  fortune  than  his  abilities 
and  had  become  convinced  that,  under  conditions  which 
have  obtained,  he  could  not  earn  means  of  existence  in 
Butte  without  employment  in  his  profession  by  inter- 
ests which  he  was  unwilling  to  serve.  This  is  a  sur- 
prising statement  to  make  about  a  man  who  has  been 
long  distinguished  in  his  profession,  who  attained  to 
chief  position  in  charge  of  controlling  interests  in  the 
industry  which  dominates  the  state,  and  who  undoubt- 
edly received  a  considerable  fortune  annually  for  his 
services  during  a  period  of  many  years.  It  becomes 
astounding  when  coupled  with  another  equally  and  ex- 
actly true  statement  that  he  squandered  no  wealth  in 
prodigal  ways  or  in  speculation.  The  simple  explana- 
tion is  that  this  remarkable  man  possessed  so  little  love 
of  money  that  he  was  able  to  give  it  away,  without  ad- 
vertising, to  whoever  or  whatever  to  him  appeared 
worthy  and  in  need  of  it.  Another  modern  peculiarity 
of  his  character  was  a  confirmed  habit  of  giving  his  own 
money,  instead  of  that  belonging  to  the  stockholders 
of  companies,  or  to  individuals,  which  entrusted  him 
with  the  conduct  of  their  affairs.  Plainly  a  whimsical 
person,  withal. 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  63 

''Naturally,  a  man  of  this  kind  became  regarded  as 
erratic  by  the  high  financiers  and  brevet-captains  of  in- 
dustry who  succeeded  to  the  corporate  powers  which  he 
cast  away  rather  than  to  approve  of  the  purposes  and 
methods  in  promotion  of  which  it  was  determined  that 
they  must  be  exercised.  Naturally,  he  was  adjudged 
a  crank  by  ordinary  legislators,  when  he  employed  pri- 
vate clerks  and  stenographers  at  his  own  expense  to 
assist  in  routine  work  while  he  was  engaged  as  a  law- 
maker in  adding  stringent  statutes  to  the  Montana  codes 
against  wine-room  evils  and  public  gambling.  Natur- 
ally, angered  criminals,  with  guns  in  pockets  and  threats 
on  lips,  denounced  this  man  as  crazy  when  he  led  in 
person,  in  prosecution,  and  with  resources,  the  move- 
ment which  made  law  enforcement  against  public  gam- 
bling a  reality,  instead  of  a  conspicuous  farce  and 
weapon  of  official  and  private  blackmail,  in  Butte. 

"Measured  by  the  standards  of  mercenaries,  of 
swindling  stock-jobbers,  of  'malefactors  of  wealth,'  of 
traffickers  in  official  power,  of  bargainers  in  treason,  of 
habitual  criminals  of  high  and  low  degree,  Mr.  Scallon 
is  deficient  in  intellect.  Clearly  he  lacks  the  ability  to 
comprehend  the  virtues  and  advantages  of  versatile 
rascality.  He  is  short  of  that  phrenological  bump  which 
enables  its  optimistic  possessor  to  anticipate  glorious 
mortal  fame  in  the  shadow  of  the  penitentiary,  and  rest 
for  the  soul  in  eternal  damnation.  To  him  does  not  ap- 
peal that  trend  of  artistic  temperament  essential  to 
hypocrisy.  The  streaks  of  yellow  in  his  formation  are 
pure  gold.  Bald  swindling  is  beneath  him.  He  is  too 
proud  to  stoop,  too  brave  to  cringe,  too  great  in  simple 
manhood  to  become  mean  and  small  in  action. 

"So  Mr.  William  Scallon  has  gone  to  New  York, 
unhonored  and  unsung  by  the  trust  scullions  and  organ 


64  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

grinders  of  Butte  and  Montana,  most  of  whom  owe  all 
their  influence  and  much  of  their  prominence  in  the 
world  to  his  generous  friendship  or  Christian  forbear- 
ance. He  will  carry  with  him  a  spotless  integrity,  a 
reputation  for  great  ability  as  a  lawyer,  an  established 
character  as  a  gentleman,  and  the  enduring  good  will  of 
all  decent-thinking  people  in  Montana  who  ever  knew 
him." 

The  man  who  succeeded  Mr.  Scallon  as  field  marshal 
of  Napoleon  Rogers  in  Montana  excelled  in  that  kind 
of  equipment  wherein  his  predecessor  had  been  esteemed 
lacking.  Organized  greed  could  teach  him  nothing  in 
selfishness  and  no  awakening  conscience  disturbed  the 
dreams  of  his  avarice.  He  combined  a  pleasing  per- 
sonality with  the  arts  of  dignity.  He  reinforced  plausi- 
ble argument  with  flattering  persuasion,  and  possessed 
to  the  full  extent  of  its  power  that  peculiar  combination 
of  talents  which  enables  the  distinguished  kings  of 
finance  to  entice  enemies  and  fleece  friends  with  equal 
skill  and  unction.  In  the  early  days  of  trust-making  the 
promoter  was  aptly  described  as  "one  who  sells  some- 
thing he  hasn't  got  to  somebody  who  doesn't  want  it". 
Mr.  Ryan  acquired  his  first  considerable  wealth  through 
commissions  on  transactions  of  that  variety.  But  being 
both  bright  and  painstaking  as  a  student,  he  early  be- 
came a  post-graduate  in  that  more  modern  and  advanced 
school  which  teaches  that  the  highest  attainment  in 
business  is  to  buy  control  of  public  necessities  and  util- 
ities, with  lawful  procedure  through  the  purchase  of 
law-makers  and  law  administrators,  at  the  same  time 
obliging  the  sellers  to  pay  the  traitorous  public  servants 
and  take  their  own  moiety  of  compensation  from  the 
profits  of  the  business  after  these  also  have  been  paid 
by  themselves. 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  65 

In  all  the  miraculous  achievements  of  aerial  naviga- 
tion it  is  doubtful  if  any  reckless  adventurer  has  reached 
a  greater  height  than  that  of  fame  marked  by  Mr.  Ryan 
in  the  atmosphere  of  high  finance  by  sheer  reliance  on 
the  power  of  hot  air.  He  was  reared  in  the  copper  min- 
ing regions  of  Michigan,  but  without  experience  or  edu- 
cation in  mining.  With  a  very  common  school  education 
he  went  forth  to  make  his  way  in  the  world,  reaching 
Denver  while  yet  a  young  man,  attracted  there  by  the 
presence  of  a  prosperous  relative.  There  he  secured 
employment  as  a  traveling  salesman  for  the  Continental- 
Oil  Company,  later  a  constituent  part  of  the  Standard 
Oil  monopoly,  and  there  presumably  received  his  first 
practical  lessons  in  combine  methods.  Montana  was  in- 
cluded in  the  territory  which  he  covered,  and  Mr.  Scal- 
lon,  as  a  ceremony  of  friendly  regard,  assisted  him  in 
an  acquaintanceship  with  Marcus  Daly  which  enabled 
him  to  include  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  Company 
on  his  list  of  customers.  After  Mr.  Daly's  death  Mr. 
Ryan  succeeded  in  securing  for  himself  a  close  connec- 
tion with  the  Daly  estate  as  an  officer  of  the  Daly  Bank 
in  Butte,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Montana.  He 
continued  to  maintain  most  friendly  relations  with  Mr. 
Scallon,  then  at  the  head  of  Amalgamated  affairs  in 
Montana,  and  was  almost  always  noticeable  on  public 
occasions  and  in  counsels  during  the  period  of  conflict 
between  Heinze  and  Amalgamated.  He  became  a  con- 
spicuous participant  in  everything  which  assisted  to 
keep  him  in  the  public  eye,  and  at  the  same  time  exer- 
cised a  large  influence  through  his  friendly  relations 
with  high  company  officials  as  well  as  with  the  power 
of  his  own  position  at  the  head  of  what  was  really  a 
company  bank  in  Butte,  in  the  sense  that  the  Daly 
banking  business  in  Butte  and  Anaconda  and  at  Great 
Falls  naturally  was  favored  in  company  business. 


66  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

After  Mr.  Scallon  secured  an  acceptance  of  his  resig- 
nation of  company  offices,  several  months  elapsed  be- 
fore the  place  was  filled.  Mr.  Rogers  desired  Mr. 
Benjamin  Thayer,  an  experienced  mining  engineer  and 
mine  manager,  to  accept  the  place.  Mr.  Thayer  had 
secured  much  mining  experience  and  a  wide  acquaint- 
ance in  Montana,  as  well  as  a  nearly  universal  popularity 
among  all  people  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He 
had  removed  to  New  York  City,  but  visited  Butte  and 
studied  the  situation  thoroughly.  He  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  he  did  not  want  the  task,  or  at  least  the 
duties  of  leading  in  the  kind  of  warfare  then  in  progress. 
The  problem  was  solved  by  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Thayer  to  be  assistant  to  President  Rogers  in  New 
York,  regularly  to  inspect  and  report  upon  the  condi- 
tions of  mines  and  works  in  Montana,  while  Mr.  Ryan 
was  made  managing  director  in  Montana  with  powers 
of  command  over  political  and  fighting  forces.  At  that 
time  Mr.  Ryan's  knowledge  of  mining  and  the  copper 
industry  was  about  the  same  as  that  of  any  other  in- 
telligent man  who  had  lived  in  mining  camps  and  en- 
gaged in  other  business.  His  selection  was  regarded  as 
a  result,  and  another  evidence,  of  Mr.  Scallon's  generous 
friendship  and  recommendation.  Heinze's  most  dan- 
gerous power  had  been  destroyed  six  months  before 
when  the  legislature  enacted  a  fair  trial  law  enabling 
litigants  to  secure  removal  from  his  Silver  Bow  county 
judges,  but  Heinze's  organization  was  yet  strong  and 
his  powers  for  extensive  mischief  great,  by  reason  of  the 
number  of  his  agents  holding  important  city  and  county 
offices  as  well  as  because  of  his  hold  upon  a  large  con- 
tingent of  the  wage  earners. 

The  time  was  ripe,  and  the  means  abundant  and  fit, 
for  operations  under  direction  of  a  man  like  Ryan.     As 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  67 

a  dignified  banker,  an  habitual  churchman,  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Daly  interests,  a  friend  and  protege  of  Wil- 
liam Scallon,  with  exemplary  personal  habits  and  ad- 
mirable attachment  to  home  and  family,  Mr.  Ryan  en- 
joyed the  esteem  and  confidence  of  reputable  people. 
At  the  same  time  he  had  taken  for  his  chief  adviser  and 
political  manager,  A.  J.  Campbell,  who  had  earned  and 
maintained  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
political  tricksters  and  corruptionists  in  the  history  of 
the  state  which  had  developed  so  much  notable  and 
varied  in  corrupt  form  of  enterprise.  Mr.  Ryan  likewise 
had  large  faculty  and  effective  facility  for  playing  the 
role  of  everybody's  friend.  He  established  confidential 
relations  and  mutual  interests  with  some  of  Heinze's 
most  trusted  agents,  and  during  his  first  years  of  power 
enjoyed  and  utilized  to  the  utmost  the  important  ad- 
vantage of  a  freedom  from  that  restraint  in  generous 
promises  born  of  sense  of  obligation  to  maintain  the 
integrity  of  his  word,  a  restraint  which  is  strong  in  all 
honorable  men  and  is  characteristic  enough  of  most 
other  individuals  to  sustain  the  rule  and  claim  that 
there  is  honor  among  thieves.  Mr.  Ryan  sought  and 
secured  the  credit  for  ending  the  war  with  Heinze  and 
for  establishing  the  interests  which  he  represented  with 
security  against  danger  from  similar  attacks 

As  heretofore  written,  Heinze  was  shorn  of  his  power 
and  practically  whipped,  with  the  enactment  of  a  fair 
trial  law  prior  to  Mr.  Scallon's  retirement.  Subsequent 
fighting  between  the  forces  was  little  more  than  show- 
ing of  strength  to  insure  favorable  terms  of  settle- 
ment on  either  side.  The  plain  truth  of  history  is  that 
the  Ryan  victories  usually  were  purchased  commod- 
ities rather  than  fruits  of  courage  and  skill  and  honest 
struggle.     He  was  a  compromiser,  not  a  fighter;  a  rank 


68  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

quitter  and  not  a  hero  in  realization  or  apprehension 
of  punishment.  The  record  of  events  in  this  volume 
will  clearly  reveal  him  to  be  somewhat  deficient  in 
physical  as  in  moral  courage.  When  he  finally  per- 
fected terms  of  settlement  with  Heinze  he  paid  him  al- 
most if  not  quite  twice  as  much  as  would  have  been 
necessary  to  have  secured  the  same  result  at  a  previous 
time.  From  an  unquestionably  qualified  authority  the 
statement  has  been  made  that  in  the  early  years  of  con- 
flict Heinze  respected  and  trusted  the  integrity  of  Mr. 
Scallon,  while  his  agents  and  organs  were  sneering  at 
or  ridiculing  it,  and  was  ready  to  negotiate  a  compro- 
mise on  such  terms  as  Scallon  would  name ;  but  at  that 
time  President  Rogers,  the  genius  and  chief  of  the  power 
of  the  Standard  Oil  interests,  averse  to  submission  to 
what  he  was  pleased  to  regard  as  exaction  of  tribute, 
and  angered  by  personal  attacks  upon  himself,  would 
consider  nothing  short  of  unconditional  surrender  from 
his  adversary  in  Montana. 

The  settlement  with  Heinze  was  assisted  at  both 
ends  of  operations  by  the  advancing  price  of  copper  and 
new  opportunities  for  stock  exploitation  and  inflation 
in  the  speculative  market.  In  1907  Mr.  Ryan,  still  man- 
aging director  of  the  Amalgamated  in  Montana,  had 
associated  with  Thomas  F.  Cole,  long  affiliated  with  the 
steel  trust,  and  the  two  had  organized  and  floated  suc- 
cessfully the  stocks  of  various  new  copper  companies, 
with  properties  from  Butte  to  Mexico,  with  the  support 
of  their  strong  eastern  connections,  and  aided  by  the 
power  and  influence  and  wealth  of  the  great  organiza- 
tions with  which  they  were  connected  and  which  was 
largely  subject  to  their  uses  in  these  works  of  promo- 
tion. Mr.  Ryan  spent  most  of  his  time  in  New  York. 
Within  three  years  he  had  become  rated  as  a  multi-mil- 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  69 

lionaire,  acquired  a  residence  on  Fifth  Avenue  and,  with 
his  partner  Cole,  negotiated  the  purchase  of  the  largest 
private  yacht  on  the  market,  if  not  on  the  ocean.  He 
spent  the  summer  of  1907  in  Europe,  returned  just  be- 
fore the  panic  struck  Wall  Street,  signalized  his  return 
by  an  interview  typical  of  his  method,  wherein  he  an- 
nounced that  conditions  everywhere  insured  against  a 
lower  price  than  twenty-five  cents  per  pound  for  copper, 
reached  Butte  about  the  time  that  the  financial  storm 
struck  the  stock-market  with  greatest  severity, 
and  a  few  days  later  went  to  bed  with  nervous 
prostration,  convinced  that  he  was  a  pauper,  the  glorious 
optimism  of  his  successful  days  being  replaced  by  utter 
hopelessness.  Strong  friends  gave  him  new  hope,  skill- 
ful physicians  gave  him  new  life,  and  the  marvelous 
climate  of  Southern  California  gave  him  new  strength. 
The  resources  of  the  vast  interests  with  which  he  had 
become  connected  were  too  great  to  be  exhausted  by  one 
panic  depreciation,  and  control  of  the  real  properties 
remained  after  the  worthlessness  of  wild-cat  holdings 
was  revealed.  Mr.  Ryan  was  restored  to  health  and 
activity  in  time  to  attend  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Rogers  and 
to  succeed  him  as  president  of  the  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany. The  power  of  this  position  and  the  restoration 
of  security  values  from  the  panic  point  enabled  him  to 
recover  wealth  as  well  as  prestige.  The  exploitation  of 
theretofore  neglected  wealth  resources  of  Montana  was 
taken  up,  the  scheme  for  a  monopoly  control  of  copper 
interests  throughout  the  country  was  revived  and  re- 
vised; and  this  particular  Napoleon  was  himself  again, 
with  the  old  confidence  of  the  promoter,  and  better  pre- 
pared than  ever  before  to  undertake  conquest  of  the 
business  world  by  the  sacrifice  of  people. 

Following  the  advancement  of  Mr.  Ryan  to  the  pres- 


70  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

idency  of  the  combine,  the  position  of  managing  director 
in  Montana  lost  much  of  its  importance  and  power,  and 
that  official  became  something  very  nearly  akin  to  po- 
litical boss  and  lobbyist  for  the  interests.  The  complex 
business  and  industrial  operations  of  the  complicated 
corporate  system  moved  smoothly  under  direction  of 
managers  and  superintendents  and  other  officers  expert 
in  their  respective  lines.  The  president  continued  to 
be  the  guiding  genius  in  the  creation  and  over-capitali- 
zation and  flotation  of  new  companies,  while  the  termi- 
nation of  the  big  wars  relieved  the  field  marshal  of  most 
responsibilities  and  duties.  Mr.  Ryan  chose  for  his  suc- 
cessor in  Montana  Mr.  John  G.  Morony,  who  possessed 
talents  as  well  as  acquaintance  and  experience  to  qualify 
him  for  the  work  in  which  he  was  employed.  Mr. 
Morony's  career  from  a  youthful  period  of  his  life  had 
been  closely  connected  with  politics  in  Montana.  From 
a  clerkship  in  a  county  office  he  had  advanced  to  an- 
other appointive  position  as  examiner  of  state  banks, 
and  became  associated  with  Ryan,  shortly  after  the 
latter's  arrival  as  a  resident  of  the  state,  as  cashier  of 
the  Daly  estate  bank  at  Great  Falls,  later  advancing  to 
the  office  of  president  of  the  Daly  Bank  in  Butte.  The 
two  were  intimate  friends  and  throughout  Ryan's  oper- 
ations in  the  state  he  utilized  Morony's  knowledge  of 
men  and  affairs  and  his  political  abilities  with  much  ad- 
vantage to  himself.  Mr.  Morony  had  a  natural  inclina- 
tion as  well  as  a  practical  training  for  the  exercise  of 
political  power  as  a  director.  With  the  influence  and 
means  and  organization  of  the  combine  in  both  parties 
subject  to  command  he  was  able  to  secure  astonishing 
results  in  legislation  and  administration,  although  dic- 
tatorial methods  and  sometimes  erratic  manners  invited 
resentments  and  caused   enmities  which   reinforced  the 


SOME    FIELD    MARSHALS    OF    NAPOLEONS  71 

pernicious  enterprises  of  the  combine  in  arousing  public 
distrust  and  hostility.  But  Mr.  Morony  served  both  the 
interests  and  himself  with  fidelity  and  efficiency,  which 
enabled  and  prompted  him  to  resign  and  retire  from 
the  field  of  active  trouble  in  1911  a  reputed  millionaire. 
To  his  skill  and  activities  the  combine  is  largely  indebted 
for  legislation  granting  it  unlimited  extension  of  powers 
in  defiance  of  constitutional  mandates,  as  well  as  for  the 
election  of  republican  legislators  from  democratic  coun- 
ties in  vain  endeavor  to  retain  in  the  United  States  sen- 
ate from  Montana  an  adroit  and  servile  representative 
of  "Big  Business". 

The  successor  to  Mr.  Morony  as  field  marshal  or  man- 
aging director  was  Mr.  Cornelius  F.  Kelley,  more  popu- 
larly and  very  widely  known  in  the  state  as  "Con." 
Kelley.  Mr.  Kelly  came  of  good  Irish  stock.  He  played 
as  a  child  on  the  famous  Butte  hill  when  it  was  adorned 
with  trees  and  vegetation  instead  of  mine  hoists  and 
dumps  and  perfect  blight  of  smelter  fumes.  He  possessed 
the  culture  of  a  scholar,  the  instincts  of  a  gentleman,  the 
eloquence  of  a  born  orator,  thorough  training  as  a  lawyer, 
political  experience  and  knowledge  derived  from  active 
part  in  all  the  conflicts  and  controversies,  whether  fac- 
tional or  corporate,  since  Montana  became  a  state.  He 
was  a  partisan  for  Daly,  a  friend  and  protege  of  Scallon, 
and  earned  by  service  his  place  as  chief  of  the  legal  de- 
partment of  the  corporate  interests  in  Montana.  He 
would  like  to  be  right,  but  he  would  rather  be  managing 
director  of  the  great  combine,  notwithstanding  a  com- 
plete knowledge  of  its  methods  and  purposes.  He  is 
politic  and  popular,  with  his  enemies  attributable  chiefly 
if  not  wholly  to  his  services  for  his  employers.  His  ap- 
pointment to  be  field  marshal  was  the  first  public  indica- 
tion that  Napoleon  Ryan  could  see  nothing  left  outside 


72  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

of  combine  control  in  Montana  worth  grabbing,  and 
realized  the  need  of  pacification  of  growing  public  hos- 
tility and  a  soothing  influence  on  public  sentiment  to 
enable  the  predatory  interests  to  retain  their  holdings 
and  special  privileges  within  the  state. 


A  Public  Press  To  Suppress  Publicity 

The  story  of  the  press  of  Montana  of  early  days  is 
the  story  of  the  press  in  all  the  western  states  during 
pioneer  times.  Besides  sharing  the  dangers  common  to 
all  the  early  settlers,  the  editors  in  the  mining  camps  en- 
dured hardships  peculiar  to  starting  newspapers  and  ex- 
pressing honest  opinions  publicly  when  form  of  con- 
troversy was  rude  and  perilous.  During  the  succeeding 
years  of  feudal  and  political  strife  the  press  played  an 
important  and  influential  part.  There  were  Daly  and 
Clark  organs,  as  well  as  party  organs  and  class  journals, 
edited  by  men  with  unwavering  courage  of  convictions 
and  possessed  of  exceptional  ability  for  expressing  them. 
In  diffusing  knowledge,  forming  wholesome  public  senti- 
ment, and  promoting  the  material  development  of  the 
state,  the  late  J.  H.  Mills  and  John  B.  Read,  and  the  still 
surviving  and  active  Samuel  Gordon,  W.  K.  Harber, 
R.  N.  Sutherlin  and  W.  M.  Boles  have  been  notable 
examples  of  successful  editors.  The  Anaconda  Standard 
and  The  Butte  Miner,  original  organs  respectively  of 
Daly  and  Clark,  which  grew  to  pretensions  and  features 
belonging  to  metropolitan  newspapers,  have  employed 
many  men  distinguished  for  ability  in  all  the  branches 
of  modern  journalism.  As  the  strife  extended,  financial 
interest  of  the  principal  participants  in  established  news- 
papers was  extended  to  include  all  of  the  daily  publica- 
tions in  all  of  the  principal  cities  and  a  large  number  of 
the  weekly  journals  throughout  the  state.  The  fighting 
was  fierce  and  the  press  broadside  was  second  only  to 
money  as  a  favorite  weapon  of  warfare.    It  was  not  until 

[73] 


74  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF   MONTANA 

the  Wall  Street  combine  had  mastered  its  adversaries 
and  entered  upon  its  campaign  for  monopoly  control  of 
the  state  that  the  journalistic  tree  in  Montana  was 
trained  to  grow  chestnuts  and  to  shade  instead  of  to 
illumine  matters  of  public  interest. 

A  public  press  chiefly  maintained  and  wholly  con- 
trolled by  the  combine  interests  to  suppress  publicity  in 
Montana  has  been  and  continues  to  be  the  greatest  and 
most  direct  influence  in  the  corruption  and  perversion 
of  government,  the  monopolization  of  resources  and 
profits  of  industry,  the  political  slavery  and  robbery  of 
the  people.  Without  this,  all  other  influences  would  be 
abortive  or  temporary  in  effect.  The  policy,  conduct, 
and  success  or  failure,  of  fully  ninety  per  cent,  of  the 
journals  of  Montana  are  determined  and  directed  by  the 
copper  combine.  In  this  as  in  other  departments  of 
operation  perfection  of  organization  and  subtle  method 
have  brought  economy  and  evasion  of  responsibility. 
In  the  first  years  of  conflict  the  combine  managers 
bought  newspapers  at  exorbitant  prices  and  operated 
them  with  extravagant  loss.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  of  stockholders'  money  was  expended  in  this 
item  of  war  cost.  Opposition  organs  existed  in  those 
times  and  the  public  was  quickly  informed  respecting 
the  misuse  of  its  sources  of  information.  The  improved, 
and  hence  more  generally  approved,  new  policy  compre- 
hended a  change  of  ownership  of  the  properties,  a  com- 
bine ownership  of  the  owners,  a  shifting  of  the  cost  of 
maintenance  to  the  public,  and  a  disguising  of  the  mailed 
hand  of  the  editorial  boss  with  the  velvety  glove  of 
patronage.  What  is  generally  designated  as  the  com- 
mercialization of  the  press  has  been  recognized  and  de- 
plored in  all  sections  of  the  country  since  the  beginning 
of  the  trust  era.     In  the  campaign  of  1908  Mr.  W.  R. 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  75 

Hearst  performed  a  great  public  service  by  securing  and 
publishing  the  contents  of  a  letter  book  of  a  director  of 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  which  showed  how  and  why 
and  at  what  expense  that  company  subsidized  well- 
known  periodical  publications.  Not  quite  a  year  later, 
in  "The  Outlook",  Mr.  Theodore  Roosevelt  noted  the 
fact  that  "During  the  last  few  years  it  had  become 
lamentably  evident  that  certain  daily  newspapers,  cer- 
tain periodicals,  are  owned  or  controlled  by  men  of  vast 
wealth  in  evil  fashion,  who  desire  to  stifle  or  twist  the 
honest  expression  of  public  opinion,  and  who  find  an 
instrument  fit  for  their  purpose  in  the  guided  and  pur- 
chased mendacity  of  those  who  edit  and  write  for  such 
papers  and  periodicals."  Since  that  time  Collier's 
Weekly  and  other  independent  journals  have  exposed 
plans  and  actions  of  the  American  Woolen  Company,  or 
Wool  Trust,  and  kindred  organizations  of  big  business, 
to  shape  or  suppress  editorial  expression  by  timely  award 
of  generous  advertising  contracts.  In  no  other  state  has 
the  prostitution  of  the  press  been  so  complete  as  in  Mon- 
tana, for  the  simple  reason  that  in  no  other  state  has  this 
ownership  of  papers  and  editors,  these  distributions  of 
subsidies,  and  the  direction  of  both  advertising  and 
public  patronage,  all  been  under  one  management  and 
parts  of  one  combine  organization. 

The  conduct  of  this  business  has  been  so  thorough 
and  painstaking  that  there  are  Montana  newspapers, 
maintained  by  combine  support  and  published  in  har- 
mony with  combine  purpose  and  policy,  in  various  com- 
munities, the  editors  of  which  are  ignorant  both  of  the 
influences  which  control  them  and  the  ends  which  they 
serve.  Therefore  it  is  not  surprising  that  in  many  lo- 
calities the  public  is  kept  in  blissful  ignorance  of  those 
things   which   it   is   desired   by   combine   managers   that 


76  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

the  public  should  not  know.  It  is  concisely  exact  to 
state  that  every  daily  paper  published  in  Butte,  Ana- 
conda, Helena,  Great  Falls,  Billings,  and  Missoula 
(with  the  single  exception  of  The  Missoulian,  published 
by  United  States  Senator  Dixon),  was  subject  in  policy 
to  the  control  and  influence  of  copper  combine  manage- 
ment or  agencies  when  the  campaign  opened  in  1912. 
This  list  included  every  daily  paper  in  the  state  having 
more  than  a  purely  local  circulation,  and  did  not  include 
the  local  dailies  subject  to  the  same  influence.  Similar 
conditions  obtain  in  the  conduct  of  the  majority  of 
weekly  papers.  In  those  localities  where  the  combine 
did  not  have  mines,  or  smelters,  or  saw  mills,  or  com- 
pany stores,  or  public  utility  enterprises,  with  patronage 
to  bestow,  it  had  banking  connections,  attorneys,  and 
political  proteges,  with  power  over  merchants  or  com- 
mand over  city  and  county  printing.  Where  all  these 
resources  failed,  there  remained  the  power  of  direction 
of  the  expenditure  of  large  campaign  funds,  collected  to 
great  extent  from  combine  coffers  and  agencies,  and  dis- 
persed by  campaign  managers  selected  by  combine 
bosses,  with  affable  manners  and  accomodating  dispo- 
sition as  well  as  abundant  resources  to  negotiate  loans 
for  the  relief  of  struggling  publishers.  The  possibilities 
in  this  one  branch  of  newspaper  direction  and  the  pre- 
carious position  of  the  average  publisher  in  a  new  state 
under  combine  control  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  in 
1909  a  carefully  compiled  list  showed  less  than  120 
newspaper  publications  in  the  state,  while  two  years 
later  no  less  than  fifty  of  these  had  suspended  publica- 
tion or  changed  nominal  ownership  and  control ;  this 
record  being  almost  the  only  tribute  to  honest  editors 
who  "hewed  to  the  line",  letting  the  chattel  mortgages 
fall  where  they  might. 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  77 

The  record  of  newspaper  jugglery  in  Montana  of 
itself  would  make  an  unwieldy  volume.  Excepting  in 
unimportant  detail  of  management,  manipulation  and 
support,  account  of  The  Anaconda  Standard,  The  Butte 
Miner,  The  Helena  Independent,  The  Great  Falls  Tri- 
bune and  The  Missoula  Sentinel  (all  professedly  dem- 
ocratic), The  Butte  Intermountain,  The  Helena  Record, 
The  Great  Falls  Leader,  The  Billings  Gazette  (all  pro- 
fessedly republican),  would  be  little  better  than  tiresome 
repetition.  Each  in  its  own  particular  field  and  way, 
but  all  harmoniously,  have  served  the  same  combine  in- 
terests in  conflict  with  public  interests.  The  establish- 
ment and  conduct  of  The  Montana  Record  of  Helena, 
together  with  the  career  of  its  publisher,  afford  an  in- 
teresting and  most  excellent  example  of  Amalgamated 
Company  enterprise  and  combine  methods  in  journalism 
and  politics. 

The  Montana  Record  was  established  at  great  ex- 
pense by  Amalgamated  agents  during  the  conflict  with 
Clark  and  Heinze,  to  force  a  hostile  independent  organ 
to  acceptable  terms  of  purchase.  It  was  maintained 
with  tremendous  losses  till  the  end  of  the  wars,  ostensi- 
bly a  republican  party  organ,  and  much  of  the  time  edi- 
torially under  direction  of  the  late  Senator  Carter,  then 
a  leader  among  Amalgamated  forces  and  a  beneficiary 
from  Amalgamated  support.  When  peace  was  declared, 
and  after  both  Ryan  and  Morony  had  made  public  an- 
nouncement of  the  company's  policy  of  non-interference 
in  political  affairs,  the  plan  was  initiated  for  relieving 
the  corporation  of  the  responsibility  of  ownership  as 
well  as  losses  of  the  newspaper  business.  In  investment 
of  plant  and  losses  of  operations,  The  Record  had  cost 
its  owners  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  An 
option  on  the  property  for  $25,000  was  given  to  political 


78  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

trustees  of  the  combine,  with  understanding  that  prom- 
inent republicans  throughout  the  state  should  be  en- 
listed as  stockholders  in  the  enterprise  and  the  paper  be 
made  the  recognized  party  organ  for  the  state  at  the 
seat  of  government.  Let  the  story  be  told  as  related 
under  oath,  in  court  at  Helena,  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Edwards, 
mayor  of  the  city,  while  being  examined  as  a  witness 
with  regard  to  his  knowledge  of  or  part  in  transactions 
in  a  bank  of  that  city.  Mayor  Edwards  testified  as 
follows : 

"It  was  in  connection  with  the  Record  deal,  the  trans- 
fer of  The  Montana  Daily  Record,  and  the  plan  was  to 
indicate  to  the  people  of  the  state  that  it  was  a  transfer 
of  the  paper  from  the  Amalgamated  Copper  company  to 
an  organization  of  republicans  throughout  this  state. 
The  purchase  price  was  $25,000,  so  understood  between 
O.  M.  Lanstrum  and  A.  J.  Campbell,  representing  the 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company.  They  realized  that 
they  couldn't  sell  that  amount  of  stock,  and  the  plan 
was  to  sell  as  much  stock  as  they  could  and  thereafter 
the  Amalgamated  would  add  the  difference  in  order  to 
make  up  the  $25,000  and  check  it  through,  and  make  it 
appear  that  it  was  a  bona  fide  transfer  of  the  paper. 

"Shoemaker  was  detailed  to  make  the  state  and  in- 
terview republicans  and  represent  to  them  that  the  sale 
was  to  be  bona  fide  and  the  paper  afterwards  to  be 
owned  by  the  republican  party  and  no  strings  upon  it. 
They  sold  about  $5,000  worth  of  stock,  subscribers  to 
the  stock  signing  a  little  slip,  which  I  afterwards  saw, 
and  to  which  drafts  were  subsequently  attached  and 
made  through  the  Union  bank  upon  the  subscribers, 
that  is,  drafts  along  with  the  subscriptions.  They  raised 
about  $5,000.  Thereafter  Lanstrum  and  Shoemaker 
made  a  trip  to  Butte  and  brought  back  $20,000,  repre- 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  79 

senting  that  they  got  the  money  through  a  check  drawn 
by  Campbell  upon  one  of  the  banks  there.  Then  they 
wanted  to  know  how  to  get  the  money  through  the 
bank.  *  *  *  A  number  of  fellows  in  Helena  were 
requested  to  subscribe  for  the  stock,  and  the  stock  was 
subsequently  issued  to  them  and  then  they  signed  it  or 
transferred  it  or  signed  it  in  blank,  and  the  money  went 
through  the  bank  as  coming  from  them.  In  other  in- 
stances money  was  advanced  to  different  fellows,  who 
drew  checks  upon  their  banks  for  the  stock,  and  they 
also  signed.  I  think  they  got  about  $8,000  or  $9,000. 
At  any  rate,  there  was  about  $10,000,  $11,000,  or  $12,000 
that  they  did  not  have  any  way  of  getting  through  the 
bank,  and  I  made  a  suggestion,  which  met  with  Lan- 
strum's  approval.  He  handed  me  the  difference,  the 
money,  and  I  went  over  to  the  National  Bank  of  Montana 
and  bought  a  demand  piece  of  paper,  whatever  it  was. 

"Cashier's  check,"  suggested  Mr.  Hepner. 

"I  have  forgotten  just  what  it  was,"  replied  Mayor 
Edwards,  "but  it  may  have  been  a  certificate  of  deposit, 
and  passed  it  back  to  Lanstrum,  and  it  went  through  the 
bank  in  that  way.  That  was  the  time  of  the  transfer 
of  The  Record  about  four  or  five  years  ago." 

Is  anything  in  ludicrous  situation  the  equal  of  this  to 
be  found  in  the  world's  production  of  comic  opera  or 
farce  comedy?  Here  was  a  newspaper  establishment 
which  in  half  a  dozen  years  had  cost  something  like  one 
quarter  million  dollars.  Here  were  the  Napoleons  of 
high  finance  operating  through  a  corporation  with  capi- 
tal of  $155,000,000.  They  were  going  out  of  politics  and 
out  of  the  newspaper  business  in  Montana  as  an  evi- 
dence of  good  faith  in  honest  public  sentiment.  To  ac- 
complish this  benevolent  purpose  they  employed  two 
of  the  most  consummate  political  crooks  in  the  combine 


80  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

service  in  a  bald  confidence  game  to  bunco  leading  and 
loyal  republican  partisans  of  the  state  out  of  a  paltry 
$5,000  with  the  false  pretense  that  they  were  to  secure 
an  independent,  honest  party  paper,  the  mere  mechan- 
ical equipment  of  which  had  cost  many  times  the  price 
asked.  At  the  same  time  the  combine  corruptionists 
through  fake  transactions  furnished  four-fifths  of  the 
purchase  price  and  retained  complete  control  of  the  policy 
and  conduct  of  the  organ,  as  was  shown  by  subsequent 
events.  The  newspaper  company  was  reorganized  with 
ostentatious  display  of  distinguished  and  influential  of- 
ficers and  stockholders,  prominent  in  party  as  in  public 
affairs.  Mr.  Justice  Holloway  of  the  state  supreme 
court  was  advertised  as  a  director  and  the  president  of 
the  company.  Mr.  Chief  Justice  Brantly,  the  other  re- 
publican member  of  the  same  court,  was  named  as  an- 
other director.  Mr.  H.  R.  Cunningham,  then  state  audi- 
tor, was  advertised  likewise  and  as  business  manager. 
The  buncoed  stockholders  who  contributed  the  $5,000, 
more  or  less,  included  scores  of  party  leaders  and  prom- 
inent citizens  in  almost  all  counties  within  the  state. 
An  incident  of  this  high  finance  comedy  performance 
made  manifest  a  nice  sense  of  the  proprieties  in  the 
audience.  A  public  sentiment  which  had  tolerated  con- 
trol of  party  organs  and  judges  alike  by  a  foreign  com- 
bine engaged  in  corrupting  government  repelled  as  ab- 
horrent the  thought  that  judges  of  a  high  court  should 
consent  to  accept  official  place  and  part  in  the  manage- 
ment of  a  party  newspaper.  There  was  criticism,  and 
the  honorable  judges  early  and  quietly  severed  their  of- 
ficial connection  with  the  organ.  Not  the  least  instruc- 
tive and  one  of  the  most  amusing  parts  of  this  combine 
play  for  public  approval  and  private  gain  was  presented 
in  the  salutatory  from  the  new  management  to  the  peo- 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  81 

pie,  printed  November  3,  1905,  in  type  of  poster  size, 
double  column  breadth  of  measurement,  on  the  editorial 
page  of  The  Montana  Record,  which  is  here  presented 
in  its  entirety : 

"A  FEW  WORDS  OF  GREETING" 

"The  Record,  as  announced  last  evening,  has  changed 
ownership.  The  new  owners  are  Republicans.  There  is 
no  blemish  on  their  party  fealty. 

"It  is  advisable  at  this  time  to  announce  the  policy 
of  the  paper  from  this  date  and  the  course  it  will  pursue. 

"In  the  first  place,  The  Record  will  be  strictly  Re- 
publican in  politics.  It  will  cater  to  no  faction,  indi- 
vidual, corporation  or  special  interest.  All  Republicans 
will  be  treated  with  justice  and  impartiality  in  its  col- 
umns. No  individual  nor  faction  will  be  lauded  or  ex- 
alted above  another.  They  will  all  be  judged  on  their 
merits. 

"This  paper  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  wisdom,  justice 
and  worth  of  President  Roosevelt,  and  it  will  support 
the  policies  now  advocated  by  him.  In  this  declaration 
special  emphasis  is  laid  upon  his  proposed  railroad  rate 
legislation,  his  policy  of  a  'square  deal'  for  all,  however 
humble  or  exalted,  his  principle  of  requiring  honesty 
and  efficiency  from  all  those  in  public  office,  restraint  of 
corporate  abuses  and  his  demand  for  civic  righteousness. 

"The  Record  rejoices  that  the  great  industrial  cor- 
porations of  this  state  are  prosperous  and  is  glad  of 
their  presence  in  Montana.  It  will  extend  a  welcome  to 
all  capital  that  shall  come  to  this  state  for  investment 
and  for  the  development  of  the  exhaustless  resources 
of  this  commonwealth.  All  such  shall  have  encourage- 
ment, justice  and  fair  treatment  by  this  paper. 

"To  the  railroads  and  great  mining  corporations  of 
this  state  The  Record  will  accord  impartial  treatment. 


82  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

As  industrial  institutions  they  are  welcome ;  but  as  poli- 
ticians, or  as  seeking  to  unduly  influence  or  control 
politics  or  legislation,  they  are  pernicious.  Any  corpor- 
ation seeking  to  corruptly  influence  politics  or  legisla- 
tion will  be  unsparingly  exposed,  denounced  and  con- 
demned. 

"This  paper  believes  in  equal  and  just  taxation  to 
all  residents  and  those  doing  business  within  the  con- 
fines of  Montana.  The  great  railroads  and  wealthy 
mining  corporations  should  pay  their  full  and  just  share 
of  taxes  to  support  government  and  governmental  func- 
tions. No  individual  or  combination  of  individuals  is 
too  humble  or  too  exalted  to  escape  his  just  share  of 
public   burdens. 

"Labor  makes  the  state  and  is  honorable  above  all 
things.  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire — whether  a 
toiler  of  brawn  or  brain — and  merits  just  and  considerate 
treatment.  The  Record  will  endeavor  at  all  times  to 
be  just  and  impartial  to  both  labor  and  capital. 

"This  paper  believes  that  a  "public  office  is  a  public 
trust,"  and  shall  require  efficiency  and  honesty  from  all 
public  servants.  It  will  not  hesitate  to  criticise  and  de- 
nounce all  recreant  and  delinquent  officials,  regardless 
of  politics  or  the  political   affiliations   of  the   offenders. 

"This  paper  will  relentlessly  denounce  and  chastise 
political  debauchery,  bribery  and  rascality,  and  will 
mercilessly  excoriate  as  criminals  all  those  who  seek  to 
corrupt  or  contaminate  the  ballot-box,  the  electorate,  or 
those  chosen  to  office. 

"The  Record  believes  in  good  government,  civic 
righteousness  and  public  progress  and  improvement.  It 
will  strive  at  all  times  to  uphold  the  best  interests  of  the 
state,  the  county  and  the  city.  It  believes  that  Montana 
is  destined  to  be  one  of  the  chief  commonwealths  of  the 


A   PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  83 

nation,  and  that  her  worth  and  glory  in  the  future  de- 
pend to  a  large  extent  upon  her  present  integrity,  merit 
and  character. 

"The  trustees  chosen  yesterday  by  the  stockholders 
of  The  Montana  Record  Publishing  Company  are  men 
of  worth,  character  and  responsibility.  They  are  well 
and  favorably  known  throughout  the  state,  and  their 
names  are  a  guaranty  of  their  Republican  standing  and 
their  fairness  as  citizens  and  men.  Our  subscribers  and 
stockholders  may  rest  assured  that  all  shall  receive  a 
fair  and  square  deal  at  the  hands  of  The  Record. 

"This  paper  will  publish  the  news  and  all  the  news 
of  interest  to  the  public.  It  does  not  believe  in  suppress- 
ing news  that  the  public  is  entitled  to  know,  simply  be- 
cause special  interests  may  be  offended  thereby.  A 
newspaper  should  be  a  public  servant,  amenable  to  public 
demands  and  requirements.  Colored  or  garbled  news 
is  false  news  and  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord. 

"Promises  are  easily  made  and  assurances  are  read- 
ily given  but  this  paper  hopes  to  prove  the  sincerity  and 
integrity  of  its  purposes  by  its  acts  instead  of  by  way 
of  prospectus." 

The  identity  of  the  author  of  this  fine  and  compre- 
hensive declaration  of  right  principles  and  righteous 
purpose,  and  literal  interpretation  of  the  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  honest  journalism,  thus  far  has  been 
lost  to  history.  It  might  have  been  written  with  equal 
enthusiasm  by  one  of  the  buncoed  and  betrayed  partisans 
or  by  one  of  the  combine's  confidence  operators.  For  a 
short  time  republicans  independent  of  corporation  con- 
trol were  permitted  to  have  part  in  editing  or  contri- 
buting to  the  columns  of  The  Record,  and  the  paper 
exalted   its   exceptional   freedom   from    corrupt   restraint 


84  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

to  such  an  extreme  that  it  became  the  subject  of  both 
resentment  and  ridicule  in  other  combine  organs,  the 
characters  of  which  were  thus  indirectly  impugned.  Dur- 
ing this  time  Amalgamated  interests  by  circuitous 
routes  continued  to  provide  for  the  financial  deficits  of 
the  newspaper  enterprise,  and  after  a  comparatively 
short  interval  Oscar  M.  Lanstrum  became  managing 
editor  and  the  paper  became  under  his  direction  and 
control  a  mere  auxiliary  to  party  bosses,  combine  inter- 
ests, corruption  of  government  and  robbery  of  the 
people. 

Within  the  succeeding  half-dozen  years  every  one 
of  the  distinct  pledges  made  by  The  Record  to  its 
readers  was  flagrantly  and  shamelessly  violated.  Its  lo- 
cation at  the  state  capital  and  its  position  as  the  leading 
party  organ  in  the  state  gave  the  paper  some  power  and 
usefulness  in  advancement  of  combine  design,  while 
giving  to  its  unscrupulous  manager  opportunities  for 
self-aggrandizement  and  ill-gotten  wealth  which  could 
not  have  been  hoped  for  through  his  individual  abilities 
or  influences.  The  powers  of  the  organ  and  the  combine, 
working  harmoniously,  as  they  did,  changed  an  obscure 
country  doctor  in  an  almost  abandoned  mining  camp 
into  a  man  of  wealth  and  a  party  boss  with  jurisdiction 
over  the  entire  state.  It  transformed  a  professed  village 
reformer  and  local  political  insurgent  into  a  stand-pat 
statesman  and  leading  lobbyist  for  a  great  corporate 
combine  within  a  period  of  ten  years — all  by  the  powers 
of  graft.  But  The  Metamorphosis  of  "Doc."  is  subject 
for  a  history  of  itself.  He  deserves  the  attention  given 
here  only  as  a  type  of  the  tool  employed  by  big  business 
in  disrupting  honest  government  and  in  destroying  com- 
petition. There  is  nothing  original  or  new  about  it  ex- 
cepting the  use  to  which  it  is  applied,  and  even  that  is 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  85 

not  wholly  without  precedent.  Almost  a  hundred  years 
ago  in  England  a  nearly  perfect  description  of  this  type 
was  furnished  by  Mr.  William  Hone  in  exposing  the 
iniquities  of  the  times  where  he  wrote  what  follows  about 
another  creature  who  combined  small  talents  in  journal- 
ism with  large  appetite  for  public  place  and  pelf : 

"When  Slop  parted  with  his  integrity,  he  lost  his  self- 
respect.  Attacking  the  honesty  he  secretly  envies,  and 
has  not  the  courage  to  imitate,  he  has  nothing  to  com- 
pensate him  for  a  comfortless  mind  but  an  empty  con- 
sequence among  fools  and  knaves,  which  yields  no  re- 
pose. His  appearance  in  The  Slop-Pail  is  ludicrous. 
Affecting  a  semblance  to  which  he  has  no  real  preten- 
sion, he  looks  like  a  nightman  in  a  cocked  hat,  who 
pulls  up  his  frill  at  every  discharge  of  muck,  to  show 
his  gentility.  His  case  is  a  common  one.  He  rose  from 
the  bottom  of  society  by  foul  self-inflation,  and  floats  a 
filthy  bubble  among  the  scum  upon  the  surface.  A 
minion  of  ministers,  a  parasite  to  despotism  throughout 
the  world,  public  virtue  is  the  object  of  his  unprincipled 
hate  and  unsparing  abuse.  Hence,  there  is  not  a  'public 
principle'  that  his  mendacity  has  not  'perverted' ;  not  a 
man  of  disinterested  public  conduct  that  he  has  not  vili- 
fied ;  not  a  measure  of  advantage  to  the  country,  emanat- 
ing from  such  men,  that  he  has  not  derided ;  not  a  meas- 
ure of  ministerial  profligacy  that  he  has  not  promoted; 
not  a  public  job  that  he  has  not  bolstered;  not  a  public 
knave  that  he  has  not  shielded;  not  an  inroad  upon  the 
constitution  that  he  has  not  widened ;  not  a  treason 
against  the  people's  liberties  that  he  has  not  advocated ; 
not  a  sore  upon  the  people's  hearts  that  he  has  not  en- 
larged." 

Within  three  years  after  the  new  Record  gave  its 
pious  greeting  of  christian  endeavor  to  its  readers,  the 


86  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

deficits  of  its  business  were  being  reduced  by  printing 
or  publishing  contracts  with  the  state  of  Montana,  with 
the  county  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  and  with  the  city  of 
Helena,  made  profitable  by  collusion  with  dishonest 
public  officials  and  with  needy  competitors ;  and  in  the 
performance  of  some  parts  of  these  contracts  The  Re- 
cord company  or  plant  had  no  other  work  than  a  shar- 
ing of  the  swag.  Within  five  years  Lobbyist  Lanstrum 
had  become  president  of  the  State  Press  Association, 
had  reorganized  the  society  with  combine  rules  and  pur- 
pose, enlisted  it  in  a  campaign  to  secure  legislation  to 
enlarge,  legalize  and  perpetuate  the  plundering  of  state, 
county  and  corporation  treasuries  through  printing  or 
publishing  jobs,  and  had  employed  as  legal  adviser  to 
the  executive  committee  in  framing  proposed  laws,  for 
the  purpose  named,  the  same  attorney  general  of  the 
state,  Albert  J.  Galen,  who  two  years  before  had  been 
anathema  to  The  Montana  Record  and  who  had  com- 
plained that  he  could  secure  no  fair  treatment  by  the 
press  of  the  state  for  the  given  reason  that  in  his  official 
capacity  he  had  earnestly,  though  vainly,  endeavored  to 
defeat  the  award  of  the  state  contract  for  printing  where- 
by the  state  had  been  deprived  of  competition  and 
swindled.  An  association  label  was  designed,  available 
only  to  members,  and  it  was  proposed,  as  a  means  of 
persuasion  to  hesitant  or  dissenting  gentlemen  of  the 
craft  to  come  into  camp,  that  after  a  given  date  news- 
papers not  carrying  the  label  should  be  deprived  of  ex- 
change privilege  with  all  papers  wearing  it.  The  execu- 
tion of  this  tragic  penalty  was  postponed  in  respect  to 
the  indignant  refusal  of  a  few  self-respecting  members 
of  the  profession  to  become  parties  to  the  agreement, 
and  the  enactment  of  the  prepared  legislative  bills  into 
law  was  deferred  in  recognition  of  certain  exposures  of 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  87 

the  scheme  and  opposition  by  a  few  legislators  free  from 
combine  direction  or  command.  Place  at  the  head  of 
the  association  and  the  acquaintance  which  it  gave 
doubtless  assisted  Mr.  Lanstrum  in  his  capacity  as 
chairman  of  the  Republican  State  Central  committee,  or 
as  political  boss  and  lobbyist,  to  secure  influence  over 
many  editorial  columns  through  prudent  expenditure  of 
campaign  funds  derived  from  combine  sources. 

What  happened  to  and  with  The  Helena  Record  was 
repeated,  with  variations  to  fit  the  situation,  in  other 
places  where  the  Amalgamated  Company  or  its  allied 
interests  owned  or  controlled  publications,  in  the  pursuit 
of  its  proclaimed  policy  to  retire  from  politics  and  the 
newspaper  business  in  the  state.  It  increased  instead  of 
releasing  its  hold  upon  the  press,  and  acquired  control 
in  communities  where  the  press  had  been  free;  for  in- 
stance, at  Billings  where  both  daily  papers  had  been 
owned  by  Mr.  P.  B.  Moss.  Mr.  Moss  had  been  a  suc- 
cessful banker  and  a  promoter  of  every  enterprise  cal- 
culated to  enlarge  or  improve  the  city.  His  generosity 
in  support  of  various  institutions  led  him  to  extend 
credits  far  enough  to  afford  an  excuse  to  other  bankers, 
who  had  endeavored  to  secure  control  of  his  properties, 
as  well  as  to  politicians  and  officials,  of  high  rank  and 
great  influence,  for  conduct  which  at  least  supported  a 
national  bank  examiner  in  an  abrupt  closing  of  the  Moss 
bank  and  a  forced  liquidation  of  his  securities  on  a  stag- 
nant market.  The  stock  of  his  publishing  company  was 
among  the  collaterals  involved.  The  newspapers  were 
making  money,  and  the  properties  were  valuable  as 
legitimate  business  enterprises.  The  combine  had  ac- 
quired public  utilities  in  the  town,  and  while  the  local 
papers  had  not  assailed  the  combine  or  its  interests  di- 
rectly they  were  hostile  to  the  local  political  influences 


88  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

allied  with  combine  political  bosses.  Through  trickery, 
participated  in  by  officers  of  the  court  and  agents  of 
bankers  and  politicians  hostile  to  Mr.  Moss,  an  order 
was  obtained  from  court  for  the  sale  of  these  properties 
privately  at  a  sum  ridiculously  small  in  contrast  with 
their  true  value.  By  prompt  proceeding,  after  pro- 
tracted litigation,  this  order  was  nullified  by  both  dis- 
trict and  supreme  court,  and  other  proceedings  for  sale 
ordered.  The  final  outcome  is  unknown  to  the  writer, 
but  the  patrons  of  the  Billings  Gazette  during  the  pre- 
convention  contest  of  the  year  1912  were  treated  to  the 
anomalous  policy  of  a  public  journal  carrying  the  name 
of  Robert  M.  LaFollette  as  a  presidential  candidate  at 
the  head  of  its  editorial  columns  while  these  were  filled 
with  inane  palaver  about  custom  and  value  in  support 
of  party  regularity  and  the  folly  or  inevitable  failure  of 
independent  political  action. 

The  extreme  extent  of  power  of  the  copper  combine 
over  the  press  of  the  state  may  be  better  understood 
by  consideration  of  the  fact  that  its  control  of  the  lead- 
ing daily  papers  gives  it  almost  complete  control  over 
the  news  associations  of  the  country  so  far  as  Montana 
is  concerned,  not  only  with  respect  to  what  news  shall 
be  printed  or  suppressed  in  Montana,  but  also  as  to 
what  news  from  or  about  Montana  shall  be  given  to  the 
country  at  large,  as  every  Associated  press  agent  in  the 
state  is  an  employee  of  some  daily  paper  within  the  state. 
Moreover,  the  weekly  papers  not  directly  subject  to  the 
influence,  as  well  as  merely  local  dailies,  are  compelled 
to  rely  very  largely  upon  the  larger  dailies  for  their 
news  supply.  An  excellent  illustration  of  the  effect  of 
this  control  was  furnished  in  1908.  At  the  republican 
state  convention  held  at  Helena  that  year  some  repre- 
sentative of  organized  labor  or  friend  of  humanity  se- 
cured the  insertion  in  the  platform  of  this  plank: 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  89 

"We  favor  more  adequate  protection  for  the  health 
and  lives  of  the  miners  of  the  state  against  inhuman 
economies  or  corporate  negligence  and  greed,  and  pledge 
the  republican  party  in  support  of  such  practical  and 
reasonable  legislation  as  will  insure  sanitary  conditions, 
and  safeguard  against  accidental  death  and  injury  in 
the  mines  of  Montana." 

That  platform  was  sent  out  from  Helena  complete. 
That  plank  was  omitted  from  the  platform  as  published 
by  The  Anaconda  Standard,  The  Butte  Intermountain, 
and  other  papers  immediately  subject  to  combine  direc- 
tion. In  consequence  it  was  omitted  from  the  platform 
in  nearly  all  of  the  papers  of  the  state,  the  editors  of 
which,  as  usual,  took  their  convention  news  from  the  big 
dailies.  The  Butte  Miner,  Mr.  W.  A.  Clark's  paper, 
furnished  the  exception  which  proved  that  rule. 

The  most  conclusive  proof  of  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany control  of  the  press  of  the  state,  and  direct  evi- 
dence of  the  tremendous  value  to  the  combine  in  its 
ability  to  suppress  publicity  of  information  about  public 
affairs,  was  furnished  during  the  legislative  session  of 
1909.  At  that  time  it  secured  the  enactment  of  a  law 
which  practically  removed  all  limitations  and  restraints 
from  the  powers  of  corporations  in  Montana.  The  meas- 
ure was  sneaked  into  the  legislature  in  disguise,  and  ad- 
vanced as  a  purely  local  enterprise  designed  to  enable 
a  land  and  townsite  company  in  Great  Falls  to  build  a 
hotel.  The  character  of  the  bill  was  discovered  and  ex- 
posed on  the  legislative  floors  and  by  a  few  weekly 
journals.  The  combine  press  simply  ignored  both  the 
purpose  and  the  importance  of  the  pending  bill. 
The  daily  papers  in  Helena,  in  Butte  and  Ana- 
conda, and  Missoula,  and  Billings,  did  not  ex- 
plain,   nor    oppose,    nor    defend,    the    legislation   either 


90  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

before  or  after  its  passage.  The  Great  Falls 
Tribune,  at  that  time  least  tainted  in  public  opinion  with 
Amalgamated  corruption,  was  permitted  and  induced  to 
make  editorial  declaration  in  substance  that  the  measure 
appeared  to  be  harmless  and  that  its  probable  effect  had 
been  exaggerated.  The  character  and  uses  of  this  act 
and  the  way  in  which  it  became  a  law  are  described  at 
length  elsewhere  in  this  volume,  but  the  treatment  of 
the  press  by  the  combine  in  relation  to  it  is  most  perti- 
nent here.  The  policy  pursued  by  The  Tribune  was  sig- 
nificant of  the  variety  of  influences  exerted  in  control  of 
the  press  as  well  as  of  those  exercised  in  protection  of 
combine  agents.  This  measure  had  been  introduced  by 
a  member  from  Great  Falls  after  sponsorship  had  been 
refused  by  others.  Cascade  county,  in  which  Great  Falls 
is  located,  had  been  not  only  quite  evenly  divided  as  be- 
tween parties,  but  public  sentiment  was  divided  as  be- 
tween public  and  combine  interests.  Exposure  of  the 
character  of  the  measure  made  home  support  of  it  de- 
sirable, if  not  necessary,  to  secure  legislative  support 
from  that  as  well  as  other  surrounding  counties  most 
largely  devoted  to  agriculture  and  stock  growing.  The 
Great  Falls  Tribune  had  been  established  by  W.  M. 
Boles  many  years  before.  He  was  possessed  of  personal 
integrity,  good  ideals,  and  much  ability  as  an  editor. 
During  the  feudal  war  he  had  sold  his  paper  to  the  Clark 
interests  at  a  large  price  and  established  a  weekly  paper 
at  Bozeman  in  the  rich  agricultural  Gallatin  valley, 
where  he  was  free  from  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  strife. 
After  peace  was  declared  and  millionaires  grew  weary  of 
the  luxury  of  newspaper  deficits,  Mr.  Boles  was  induced 
to  resume  ownership  and  conduct  of  The  Tribune,  prac- 
tically as  a  gift,  or  better.  He  had  made  The  Tribune 
the   nearest  approach   to  a   legitimate   daily   newspaper 


A    PUBLIC    PRESS    TO    SUPPRESS    PUBLICITY  91 

enterprise  in  the  state,  and  the  rapid  development  of  the 
surrounding  country  and  growth  of  population  had  given 
it  a  wide  circulation  and  extensive  influence.  During 
the  same  time  the  combine  had  increased  its  holdings 
and  control  of  business  in  the  city  of  Great  Falls,  and 
was  in  position  to  give  or  deprive  The  Tribune  of  much 
valuable  patronage.  It  is  incredible  that  a  man  of  Mr. 
Boles'  talents  could  have  been  misled  as  to  the  character 
of  the  legislation  mentioned,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that 
his  service  in  defending  it  was  obtained  through  no 
worse  argument  than  consideration  of  friendly  relations 
and  liberal  patrons. 

These  interests,  which  direct  the  conduct  of  the  pub- 
lic press  for  public  loss,  reinforce  their  promotion  of 
prosperity  for  those  who  serve  them,  with  prompt  and 
unfailing  aid  to  adversity  for  newspapers  which  place 
public  interests  first  in  policy.  It  is  not  alone  the  loss 
of  combine  support  which  menaces  an  independent  press 
in  Montana.  Any  journal  which  opposes  illegitimate 
combine  enterprises  with  plain  truth  and  argument  in 
legitimate  public  service  is  made  the  victim  of  con- 
spiracy and  boycott,  more  perfectly  organized  and  more 
powerfully  exercised  and  practiced  than  in  some  cases 
where  representatives  of  labor  organizations  for  kindred 
offenses  have  been  adjudged  criminals  and  punished  by 
the  courts.  The  combine  bosses  have  their  agents  and 
employees  in  organizations  of  business  and  professional 
men  in  various  cities  of  the  state,  and  direct  these  influ- 
ences as  they  do  others  to  punish  their  opponents  as  well 
as  to  reward  their  servants.  By  these  methods  inde- 
pendent journalism  is  stifled  in  small  communities  as 
certainly  as  competition  is  made  impossible  with  the 
daily  newspapers  in  the  more  populous  centers  where 
combine  power  is  concentrated. 


92  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

"Where  ignorance  is  bliss  'tis  folly  to  be  wise". 
Workmen  employed  in  the  newspaper  business  in  Mon- 
tana early  become  persuaded  that  "things  are  seldom 
what  they  seem",  and  teach  their  readers  as  well  as 
themselves  the  comforts  of  life  founded  in  the  Dr.  Pan- 
gloss  philosophy  that  everything  is  for  the  best,  rea- 
soning, perhaps,  with  the  acute  intelligence  of  the  artist 
who  reconciled  himself  with  a  belief  that  color  blindness 
was  not  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  success  in  his  profes- 
sion, by  profound  reflection  upon  the  simple  fact  that  the 
blackberry  is  always  red  when  it  is  green. 


Subjugation  Of  Wage-Earners 

While  the  copper  wars  were  in  progress  in  Montana, 
the  wage-earners  of  the  state  were  objects  of  the  most 
distinguished  consideration  and  regard  from  Napoleons 
of  finance  and  captains  of  industry.  The  workmen  had 
political  power  as  well  as  power  of  brawn  and  muscle. 
Not  infrequently  it  was  a  pertinent  if  a  delicate  question 
which  power  the  employers  were  trying  to  secure  with 
maximum  wage  scales  and  liberal  concessions  to  sons  of 
toil.  Labor  organizers  took  advantage  of  conditions  and 
obtained  powers  and  privileges,  for  their  organizations 
and  themselves,  seldom  if  ever  equalled  with  so  great 
extent  of  effectiveness  in  any  other  state.  Butte  was 
commonly  and  accurately  designated  as  "the  strongest 
union  town"  on  earth,  with  proportionately  similar 
power  of  organized  labor  manifest  in  all  industrial  cen- 
ters of  the  state.  There  was  a  union  organization  for 
every  occupation  and  no  possible  occupation  in  Butte 
for  any  man  who  did  not  belong  to  some  union.  Two 
chimney  sweeps  of  the  town  had  a  labor  organization 
all  their  own,  fixed  their  scale  of  prices  and  enforced 
penalties  of  unfairness  against  any  employer  who  re- 
belled or  rejected.  There  is  authentic  report  of  pro- 
ceeding at  a  meeting  of  the  "Workingman's  Union" — an 
organization  to  include  unclassified  or  otherwise  un- 
affiliated wage-earners — at  which  the  grave-digger  in  a 
local  cemetery  reported  his  inability  to  secure  certain 
demanded  concessions  from  his  employer,  whereupon  it 
was  duly  and  solemnly  moved  by  another  member  that 
a  boycott  against  the  cemetery  be  declared  by  organized 

[93] 


94  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

labor.  In  some  of  the  skilled  trades  initiation  or  affilia- 
tion fees  were  adopted  prohibitive  against  newcomers, 
and  the  benefits  of  monopoly  power  exacted  to  the  ut- 
most degree.  In  one  of  the  local  campaigns  a  commercial 
traveler  at  a  leading  hotel  combatted  the  arguments  be- 
ing advanced  by  a  strong-voiced  political  agent  of  one  of 
the  interests.  "Who's  paying  you  for  talking?"  de- 
manded the  orator.  "Nobody!"  asserted  the  indignant 
salesman.  "Then  you're  scabbing  the  job !"  concluded 
the  professional,  and  the  visitor  was  left  without  either 
antagonist  or  audience. 

The  backbone  of  organized  labor  in  Montana,  the 
effective  power  behind  all  union  movements  or  demands 
when  exerted,  was  the  Butte  Miners'  Union.  It  was  or- 
ganized with  less  than  one  hundred  members  about  the 
year  1880,  as  much  in  the  interest  of  mine  owners  as 
employees,  to  establish  uniformity  in  work  and  wages. 
In  its  most  palmy  days,  during  the  first  half-dozen  years 
of  the  present  century,  it  had  an  accredited  membership 
of  approximately  10,000.  From  the  day  of  its  organiza- 
tion to  this  year  1912  it  never  engaged  in  a  strike  nor  be- 
came involved  in  serious  disagreement  with  employers 
through  action  of  its  own.  For  more  than  a  quarter  cen- 
tury the  wage  scale  of  the  Butte  Miners'  Union  remained 
practically  without  change  as  originally  fixed,  although 
many  betterments  were  secured  in  working  conditions 
and  finally  in  the  establishment  of  an  eight-hour  day, 
the  mines  being  operated  day  and  night,  365  days  in  the 
year.  This  union  has  been  imposed  upon  at  times  by 
other  labor  organizations,  by  labor  leaders,  by  some  of 
its  own  officers,  and  by  its  employers,  but  in  every  great 
emergency,  where  an  important  question  was  submitted 
to  a  vote  of  the  union  as  a  whole,  the  majority  has  been 
on  the  side  of  conservative,  intelligent,  fair-minded  judg- 


SUBJUGATION    OF   WAGE-EARNERS  95 

ment,  and  with  far-sighted  regard  for  permanent  inter- 
ests of  the  many ;  with  the  possible  exception  of  one  or 
two  instances  within  quite  recent  years  and  since  the 
character  of  its  membership  has  suffered  a  radical  change 
for  the  worse  through  the  perfidious  policy  of  the  chief 
employing  interest,  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company. 

When  it  is  remembered  how  much  of  temptation  to 
sale  or  abuse  of  power  for  both  members  and  leaders 
was  inevitable  in  connection  with  the  great  struggles  for 
supremacy,  both  in  politics  and  industry,  it  may  be  bet- 
ter realized  with  what  strength  of  devotion  to  principle 
the  average  member  of  the  organization  was  controlled, 
and  it  may  be  more  easily  appreciated  why  a  resolution 
of  sympathy  adopted  by  this  union  usually  was  more 
effective  in  securing  results  than  a  strike  ordered  by  any 
other  labor  organization.  Almost  the  only  abuse  of 
power  by  this  union  was  in  its  use,  through  its  support 
of  all  organized  labor,  in  assisting  ill-advised  enter- 
prises and  supporting  unreasonable  demands  from  other 
organizations  not  connected  with  it  in  any  way  more 
closely  than  by  its  loyalty  to  the  common  cause  of  all 
wage-earners. 

During  the  period  of  strife  between  the  corporations 
the  demands  and  requirements  imposed  by  minor  labor 
organizations,  and  enforced  by  the  union  labor  senti- 
ment, had  become  impossible  or  intolerable  to  very 
many  lines  of  business  and  enterprise.  This  fact  was 
used  by  the  copper  combine  managers  and  agencies  as 
the  wedge  with  which  to  divide  the  labor  forces  prelim- 
inary to  the  subjugation  of  all  wage-earners  to  the  cor- 
porate monopoly  control  of  the  state.  Business  stagna- 
tion following  the  stock-gamblers'  panic  of  1907  fur- 
nished the  opportunity.  Building  operations  became  a 
negligible    factor    in    the    labor    problem    because    there 


96  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

were  no  new  building  operations,  and  workmen  in  the 
building  trades,  who  had  furnished  many  of  the  just 
causes  for  complaint  against  union  labor,  were  com- 
pelled to  seek  other  fields  or  other  employment.  In  1907 
the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  had  secured  a  con- 
tract with  the  Butte  Miners'  Union,  and  affiliated  labor 
organizations  in  the  operation  of  mines  and  smelters,  to 
cover  a  period  of  five  years,  the  miners  to  be  allowed  an 
advance  of  fifty  cents  per  day  in  wages  whenever  the 
price  of  copper  should  for  a  given  time  be  maintained  at 
or  above  eighteen  cents  per  pound.  Mr.  John  D.  Ryan, 
the  managing  director  at  the  time,  made  public  pro- 
nouncement of  the  great  benefit  this  would  be  to  Butte 
in  assurance  of  uninterrupted  operations  and  to  the  mi- 
ners through  insuring  them  steady  employment.  Later 
on,  when  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  with  which 
the  Butte  Miners'  Union  was  affiliated,  adopted  and 
sought  to  enforce  a  policy  against  wage  contract  between 
unions  and  employers,  the  Butte  Miners'  Union  voted 
to  fulfill  its  contract  with  the  mining  companies  in  de- 
fiance of  the  laws  and  orders  of  the  central  organization. 
When  in  1907,  following  wild-cat  speculation,  over- 
capitalization, and  over-production  of  copper  stimulated 
by  inflated  values,  the  price  of  copper  slumped  to  twelve 
cents  or  less  per  pound,  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Com- 
pany ignored  its  contract  obligations  with  the  Butte 
Miners'  Union,  repudiated  the  assurances  of  steady  em- 
ployment, and  threw  thousands  of  its  faithful  workmen 
into  idleness  and  want.  It  is  a  part  of  the  record  to  be 
found  in  the  files  of  its  organs  that  death  from  starvation 
accompanied  inability  to  find  work  in  Anaconda  during 
that  season  of  distress.  The  resumption  of  operations 
was  tardy  and  slow.  The  policy  was  adopted,  with  new 
and  harsh  rules,  for  workmen  whereby  many  found  em- 


SUBJUGATION    OF    WAGE-EARNERS  97 

ployment  for  little  more  than  half  time,  so  that  there  was 
great  difficulty  for  men  with  families  to  save  money 
enough  to  leave  the  camp,  and  a  constant  surplus  of 
labor  at  the  same  time  was  kept  in  the  camp.  The  daily 
wage  scale  was  not  reduced  but  the  month's  pay  check 
was,  frequently  from  thirty  to  forty  per  cent.  The  Na- 
poleons of  finance  permitted,  if  they  did  not  instruct, 
their  phonographic  representatives  in  publicity  work  to 
peddle  the  pretense  that  this  policy  was  born  of  the 
charitable  purpose  to  employ  as  many  as  possible  of  the 
needy  men.  Contemporaneous  with  this  there  came  an 
influx  of  ignorant,  impoverished,  unskilled  men  from 
southern  Europe,  who  found  employment  in  the  Butte 
mines  by  the  exclusion  of  miners  whose  little  homes  and 
large  families  frequently  were  the  only  fruits  of  almost 
a  lifetime  of  faithful  service  in  the  hard  and  extra-haz- 
ardous employment.  This  marked  the  beginning  of  what 
came  to  be  known  as  the  "bohunk"  era  in  Butte. 

In  its  issue  of  July  24,  1910,  The  Butte  Evening 
News  devoted  more  than  a  full  newspaper  page  to  "The 
Story  of  the  Butte  Bohunk."  From  that  story  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs  are  taken,  descriptive  of  the  new  citi- 
zen, the  manner  of  his  coming,  the  method  of  his  em- 
ployment, his  standard  of  living,  and  his  influence  upon 
the  community  and  upon  the  business  of  the  town : 

"Butte,  thrice  cursed  after  its  years  of  pride  and  pros- 
perity, writhes  under  maladies  which  only  the  white 
light  of  publicity  will  help. 

"Not  one  of  these  conditions  will  be  improved  as 
long  as  they  go  unnoticed.  The  News  alone  will  tell  of 
them.  It  has  told  of  the  short  pay  check,  with  the  curse 
of  curtailment.  It  has  looked  a  calamitous  situation 
squarely  in  the  face  and  is  going  to  tell  the  truth. 

"This  story  tells  of  the  bohunks,  three  thousand 
strong,  who  are  driving  the  white  man  slowly  but  surely 


98  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

out  of  the  camp.  Many  never  saw  a  bohunk;  they  only 
know  that  the  breadwinner  is  out  of  a  job  and  some  mys- 
terious form  .of  foreigner  has  taken  his  job. 

"The  newspaper  which  by  direct  or  indirect  means 
attempts  to  defend  or  justify  the  condition  of  affairs 
which  is  cursing  Butte  is  criminal  in  its  attempted  de- 
ception. 

"At  the  word  'bohunk'  every  other  paper  in  this  city 
but  the  News  cries  'hush'.  The  alarming  feature  of  the 
bohunk  problem  is  that  every  other  paper  seems  to  be 
willing  to  see  Butte  turned  into  a  cheap  foreign  settle- 
ment even  as  Dublin  Gulch  has  already  become  'bohunk 
valley'. 

"There  are  3,000  bohunk  miners  in  Butte  today.  Of 
these  2,175  are  working  and  the  balance  are  being  sup- 
ported by  their  brothers  and  are  ready  to  slip  into  every 
job  where  a  white  man  is  laid  off. 

"There  are  hundreds  more  en  route  from  Europe 
ready  to  come  to  Butte  and  live  on  their  friends  until 
they  can  edge  into  the  mines. 

"The  bohunk  miner  is  the  low-grade  foreigner  who 
buys  his  job  from  the  foreman  and  pays  him  for  keeping 
it;  who  lives  in  a  cabin;  who  never  adapts  himself  to 
American  life  any  more  than  does  the  Chinaman. 

"Gambling,  white  slavery,  prizefighting,  licensed 
prostitution,  horse-racing,  and  every  ill,  alleged  or  other- 
wise, that  one  can  conjure  up  palls  into  insignificance 
before  this  black  peril  which  has  Butte  by  the  throat  and 
is  dragging  it  down  to  the  level  of  a  grading  camp. 

"That  these  black  men  from  across  the  water  are 
buying  their  jobs  is  a  secret  so  open  that  he  who  runs 


SUBJUGATION    OF    WAGE-EARNERS  99 

may  read ;  yet  the  operations  of  this  accursed  peonage 
are  guarded  with  all  the  secrecy  of  the  black  hand  and  in 
the  end  are  just  as  fatal. 

"These  men  buy  their  jobs  for  cash ;  they  buy  their 
jobs  because  they  board  in  certain  places ;  because  in 
some  instances  they  buy  groceries  in  certain  places ;  they 
buy  their  jobs  by  renting  rooms  of  people  related  to  the 
men  who  employ  them ;  they  buy  their  jobs  by  paying 
a  rental  for  cabins  far  in  excess  of  their  worth,  content 
to  give  up  these  various  tolls  to  hold  their  jobs. 


"Walk  into  the  gulch  today  and  you  will  see  what  a 
bohunk  is  and  how  he  lives.  Six  of  them  live  in  one 
cabin,  not  a  stone's  throw  from  the  Anaconda  mine,  and 
each  one  of  them  is  paying  a  rent  of  $10  a  month.  One 
could  rent  a  luxurious  mansion  for  $60. 

"Imagine  what  $60  a  month  for  one  cabin  means  to 
the  owner,  especially  if  he  has  a  group  of  them.  He  can 
cut  it  in  two  with  the  foreman  and  still  get  rich  in  a  short 
time. 

***** 

"Another  story  is  that  eight  bohunks  occupied  one 
cabin,  each  paying  $10  a  month.  The  room  was  owned  by 
a  foreman  who  drew  down  $80  for  a  room  that  would 
ordinarily  rent  for  about  $10. 

"In  some  places  the  peonage  has  been  pretty  open 
and  above  board.  Two  bohunks  were  each  paying  $20 
a  month  for  a  room  in  which  they  were  sleeping.  This 
brought  $40  for  a  room  worth  about  one-fourth  the  price. 
One  morning  one  of  the  pair  notified  his  landlord  that  he 
had  secured  a  cabin  in  Walkerville  for  five  dollars  a 
month  and  purposed  to  live  there.  When  he  got  over 
to  the  mine  he  was  promptly  bawled  out  by  the  foreman. 


100  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF   MONTANA 

who  told  him  his  time  was  in  and  to  go  to  hell  and  work 
in  Walkerville. 

"The  buying  of  jobs  has  continued.  These  foreign- 
ers who  have  walked  into  the  Butte  mines  and  who  have 
taken  away  jobs  from  under  the  very  noses  of  the  white 
men  employed  in  Butte  are  no  part  of  the  community  in- 
terest in  this  camp.  The  foremen  who  put  them  to  work 
have  no  use  for  them ;  they  cannot  carry  on  a  conversa- 
tion with  the  other  miners  of  the  camp ;  they  do  not  as- 
sociate with  other  miners;  they  herd  like  cattle  in  the 
cabins  of  the  gulch  and  other  parts  of  the  town. 

"The  bohunk  colony  proper  lies  in  that  portion  of  the 
city  known  as  'Cork-town'  and  'Dublin  Gulch'.  North 
Wyoming  street,  from  Copper  street  north  to  the  B.  A. 
&  P.  tracks  is  a  regular  bohunk  hot-bed.  Every  avail- 
able house,  cabin  or  shack  that  can  be  procured  is  rented 
by  this  element,  and  between  shifts  in  the  mines  they 
are  herded  like  cattle  both  night  and  day. 

"Some  of  the  houses  have  four  or  five  rooms  and 
house  as  many  as  thirty  of  these  black  men.  The  shacks 
and  cabins  give  shelter  to  from  five  to  fifteen  of  them. 
Their  methods  of  living  would  not  appeal  to  one  who 

has  lived  amid  American  surroundings. 

***** 

"How  they  sleep  is  no  mystery.  The  ones  on  the 
night  shift  occupy  the  same  bed  that  the  day  shift  uses 
and  the  bedding  never  has  a  chance  to  get  cold.  The 
others  curl  themselves  up  in  a  dirty  blanket  on  the  floor 
and  feel  as  refreshed  when  the  alarm  goes  off  as  if  their 
cot  was  of  feathers. 

"Another  shack  has  18  bohunks  and  for  filth  it  is  a 
marvel.  Suspended  from  the  ceiling  of  the  kitchen  are 
several  pieces  of  dried  meat.     On  the  claret-soaked  table 


SUBJUGATION    OF    WAGE-EARNERS  101 

is  a  dirty  deck  of  cards,  while  around  the  table  a  number 
of  them  engage  in  some  game  that  is  popular  in  their 
native  land.  The  walls  are  smoked  and  grease-stained 
and  the  smell  of  filth  is  frightful.  The  very  air  reeks 
with  the  sickening  odors  of  foreign  tobacco,  and  through 
it  all  one  of  their  number  is  kept  busy  keeping  a  roaring 
fire  under  a  coal-oil  can  with  the  top  cut  out  and  which  is 

used  to  boil  soup  in. 

***** 

"At  another  house,  where  over  fifteen  of  them  lived, 
one  of  their  number  lay  in  bed  with  consumption.  Day 
after  day  he  lingered,  with  no  hopes  of  ever  rising  again, 
and  yet  the  other  bohunks  gave  little  heed  to  their 
brother  in  misfortune,  and  while  each  day  brought  him 
nearer  to  the  grave,  they  let  him  die  without  the  care  of 
a  doctor  or  a  nurse  and  even  shared  the  same  bed  and  the 

same  room  with  the  patient. 

***** 

"Since  the  bohunk  influx  to  Butte  began  it  has  never 
ceased.  Day  after  day,  and  night  after  night,  as  the 
trains  pull  into  Butte,  the  bohunks  step  off  at  the  sta- 
tion. Once  landed  they  are  met  by  one  or  two  old-time 
bohunks,  who  immediately  take  them  on  a  long  hike  to 
'Cork-town'  or  the  'Gulch'.  Carrying  their  luggage, 
blankets  and  belongings  with  them,  they  make  a  spec- 
tacular procession  tip  through  Utah  avenue. 

"As  they  step  off  the  train  there  is  no  hack  driver 
asking  them  to  have  a  cab ;  no  baggage  man  asks  for 
their  luggage ;  and  the  conductor  on  the  street  car  beats 
no  jangle  on  the  foot  bell  to  give  them  warning  that  the 
car  is  about  to  start  for  town. 

"They  know  it  is  but  a  waste  of  time  and  words. 

"Every  train  that  dumps  these  foreigners  off  as  it 
pulls  in  takes  just  as  many  old-timers  aboard  as  it  pulls 
out. 


102  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

"Up  the  gulch  'mother  and  the  kids'  watch  daily  for 
the  postman  to  see  if  father  has  found  employment  in 
some  place  where  a  white  man  can  live  and  earn  his  liv- 
ing. Up  the  gulch,  boys  who  were  born  and  raised  there, 
are  kissing  their  gray-haired  mothers  good-bye  and  are 
leaving  for  pastures  new. 

"In  an  effort  to  ascertain  the  effect  of  the  bohunk  in- 
vasion on  the  business  of  Butte  a  poll  was  taken  of  the 
various  business  men  in  Butte.  The  grocer  shrugged  his 
shoulders  and  said,  'We  do  not  get  any  of  his  business ; 
there's  a  bohunk  grocery.  The  bakers  say  the  bohunks 
do  not  eat  white  bread  and  have  their  own  bakery;  the 
butchers  say  the  bohunks  eat  dried  sausage  and  dried 
meats ;  the  fuel  dealers  say  the  bohunk  steals  coal  and 
rustles  ties  for  his  fuel ;  the  clothier  says  one  suit  of 
clothes  lasts  a  lifetime;  the  bohunks  are  not  fancy  dres- 
sers. 

"There  are  bohunk  saloons  and  tobacco  stores  where 
the  invaders  buy  their  drinks  and  smoking  tobacco.  Doc- 
tors and  druggists  get  little  or  no  patronage  from  these 
people.  For  light  in  their  dingy  cabins,  candles  stolen 
from  the  mines  are  used.  These  people  shave  them- 
selves and  cut  each  other's  hair.  They  rarely  ride  on 
street  cars;  they  attend  no  theaters  except  perhaps  in  a 
wild  splurge  of  extravagance  they  go  to  a  moving  picture 
show.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  there  is  not  a  com- 
mercial interest  in  Butte  that  profits  by  this  invasion  of 
this  class  of  foreigners." 

Such  was  the  class  of  inhabitants  and  character  of 
workmen  which  the  Amalgamated  Company  not  only 
permitted  but  encouraged  to  supplant  the  long-time  citi- 
zens and  experienced  miners  of  Butte  in  its  employment. 
Under  contract  relations  no  workman  could  be  employed 
in   the   Butte   mines   without   a   working   card   from    the 


SUBJUGATION    OF    WAGE-EARNERS  103 

miners'  union.  The  fair  and  liberal  policy  of  that  organi- 
zation caused  it  to  admit  to  membership  all  workmen 
seeking  employment  in  the  mines.  Within  a  short  period 
of  time  nearly  one-half  of  the  working  force  in  Amal- 
gamated mines,  during  a  period  of  reduced  production 
and  partial  operation,  was  made  up  of  this  imported 
"pauper  labor",  and  almost  as  large  a  part  of  the  then 
active  membership  of  the  Butte  Miners'  Union  was  com- 
posed of  these  people.  Of  course  a  self-respecting  and 
fellow-respecting  shift  boss  without  corrupt  incentive 
would  not  thus  have  enchanged  experienced  miners  and 
fellow  countrymen  for  ignorant  novices  in  mining,  who 
could  not  even  understand  the  orders  of  the  boss  without 
an  interpreter;  but,  also  of  course,  the  shift  bosses  could 
not  have  trafficked  in  the  toil  of  others  in  this  fashion 
without  the  approval  of  superintendents  and  managers 
and  managing  directors  and  president  of  the  corpora- 
tion. They  were  most  excellent  instruments  for  weaken- 
ing organized  labor,  and  at  the  same  time  men  whose 
standard  of  living  was  low  enough  to  make  lower  wages 
attractive  to  them,  where  such  reduction  would  be 
impossible  under  the  American  standard  of  living  with- 
out lessening  the  profits  of  all  the  combines  making  or 
handling  the  necessities  of  life.  In  its  extensive  lumber 
department,  and  in  other  occupations  in  the  state,  the 
combine  influences  had  assisted  in  reducing  earnings  of 
workmen  as  well  as  the  power  of  labor  organizations. 
There  had  been  repeated  instances,  too,  indicating  a  pur- 
pose to  change  political  conditions  by  leaving  without 
employment  workmen  with  intelligence  and  independ- 
ence enough  to  vote  without  instructions.  Any  one  of 
these  purposes  might  have  furnished  cause  of  action 
taken  by  the  combine  under  the  Ryan  policy  of  adminis- 
tration.    There    was     still     another     incentive     for     Mr. 


104  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

Ryan's  antipathy  to  much  of  the  membership  of  the 
Butte  Miners'  Union,  easily  controlling  in  a  vain  and 
selfish  mind. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1909,  the  Great  Northern 
Railway  Company  in  Montana  had  a  strike  by  switch- 
men to  contend  with.  The  ores  in  the  mines  of  Butte 
formerly  owned  by  the  Boston  and  Montana  Company 
were  shipped  to  Great  Falls  smelters  over  the  Great 
Northern  Railway  for  reduction.  The  service  of  the 
railway,  almost  never  good  through  niggardly  policy  of 
management,  was  interrupted  in  the  moving  of  freight 
trains  by  this  strike,  and  further  hampered  towards  the 
close  of  the  year  by  extreme  cold  weather  and  storms. 
All  other  ores  of  Amalgamated  properties  and  allied  in- 
terests in  Butte  were  taken  to  Anaconda,  in  an  opposite 
direction,  over  a  railway  owned  and  operated  by  the  cop- 
per combine  and  unaffected  by  the  switchmen's  strike. 
Owing  to  the  inability  of  the  Great  Northern  Railway 
Company  to  handle  the  ore  traffic  at  Great  Falls,  the 
smelters  in  that  city  were  closed  and  the  work  of  produc- 
tion was  suspended  in  the  Butte  mines  which  supplied 
them  with  ore.  This  condition  had  existed  for  several 
weeks.  Efforts  had  been  made  at  Great  Falls  and  in 
Butte  by  business  men,  co-operating  with  the  railway 
people,  to  relieve  the  situation  by  employing  miners  and 
smeltermen  as  substitutes  for  striking  switchmen.  The 
Butte  Miners'  Union,  when  the  subject  was  taken  to 
them  for  consideration,  adopted  resolutions  of  sympathy 
with  the  strikers.  A  conference  committee,  composed  of 
representatives  of  the  mill  and  smeltermen's  unions  and 
of  the  Butte  Miners'  Union,  met  in  Butte  to  consider  the 
situation  and  a  subcommittee  had  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Ryan  who  recently  had  arrived  from  New  York  on  one  of 
his  brief  visits  to  Montana.     On  the  day  that  this  inter- 


SUBJUGATION    OF   WAGE-EARNERS  105 

view  was  held  The  Butte  Intermountain,  avowed  organ 
of  the  copper  company,  published  what  purported  to  give 
an  account  of  the  proceedings.  Members  of  the  confer- 
ence committee  issued  a  statement  denying  the  accuracy 
of  such  report.  As  a  result  of  these  conferences  a  form 
of  resolution  was  drafted  for  presentation  to  the  several 
unions  interested,  to  be  by  them  submitted  to  referen- 
dum vote.  The  smeltermen's  union  at  Great  Falls 
adopted  the  resolution.  On  January  1  the  miners'  union 
held  a  special  meeting  and  adjourned  after  refusing  to 
take  the  action  suggested  in  behalf  of  the  corporate  inter- 
ests. The  next  day  it  was  announced  that  order  had  been 
issued  to  close  all  the  mines  of  the  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany that  afternoon,  with  published  assertion  that  the 
suspension  would  be  for  a  period  of  at  least  six  months, 
but  that  this  order  had  been  temporarily  withdrawn  at 
the  request  of  Great  Falls  smeltermen.  That  afternoon 
Mr.  Ryan  published  an  official  statement  confirming  the 
report  of  a  determination  to  close  down,  and  a  supple- 
mentary assurance  that  the  putting  of  the  decision  into 
effect  was  withheld  for  a  few  days  to  give  the  Great  Falls 
smeltermen  sufficient  time  to  exhaust  their  resources 
towards  resumption  of  traffic  in  the  Great  Falls  yards  on 
the  Great  Northern  Railway,  and  the  positive  threat  that 
"the  mines  now  in  operation  will  continue  so  only  for  a 
sufficient  time  to  comply  with  the  request  of  the  Great 
Falls  Mill  and  Smeltermen's  Union."  The  time  and  con- 
ditions were  most  opportune  to  lend  force  to  the  threat 
of  use  of  the  combine's  favorite  argument  of  shut-down, 
with  menace  of  privation  and  want  for  thousands 
of  men  and  for  those  dependent  upon  them.  Neither 
business  men  nor  wage-earners  had  recovered  from  se- 
vere losses  incident  to  the  panic  times  and  partial  sus- 
pension of  mining  operations.     The  price  of  copper  was 


106  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

low  and  the  combine  was  working  for  better  rates  by 
curtailment  of  product.  There  was  a  surplus  of  labor, 
and  intense  cold  weather  prevailed.  In  this  situation 
Mr.  Ryan  issued  his  ultimatum  that  members  of  the  Butte 
Miners'  Union  must  assist  as  strike-breakers  for  a  rail- 
way company  in  a  town  hundreds  of  miles  away  or  them- 
selves be  shut  out  of  employment  without  resources  in 
mid-winter.  After  the  publication  of  the  Ryan  threat,  a 
special  meeting  of  the  Butte  Miners'  Union  was  called 
to  be  held  the  next  night.  The  Butte  and  Anaconda 
newspapers,  subject  to  Ryan's  direction,  carried  appeals 
to  the  miners  for  action  rescinding  their  previous  pro- 
ceedings, with  intimations  designed  to  influence  men 
acting  from  selfish  motives,  and  urging  a  full  attendance 
at  the  meeting.  There  was  a  full  attendance.  The  meeting 
had  to  be  adjourned  from  the  Union  Hall  to  the  city  au- 
ditorium, where  it  was  conservatively  estimated  that 
more  than  5,000  members  gathered  for  secret  session. 
The  discussion  lasted  two  hours  and  it  dealt  directly 
with  union  principles  and  combine  threats.  By  a  vote 
practically  unanimous,  the  union  decided  against  a  vote 
on  the  discredited  report  of  the  conference  committee 
and  stood  by  the  previous  action  of  the  union.  Mr.  John 
D.  Ryan  left  Butte  before  daylight,  and  Montana  as 
quickly  as  a  fast  train  could  carry  him.  The  Butte  pa- 
pers next  morning  carried  the  news  that  resumption  of 
operations  at  the  Great  Falls  smelter  had  been  ordered, 
that  switching  would  be  done  by  officials  of  the  railway 
company,  and  that  resumption  in  the  Boston  and  Mon- 
tana mines  in  Butte  would  be  had  as  soon  as  warranted 
by  demand  for  more  ore  at  Great  Falls.  If  there  ever 
was  better  reason  for  the  threat  to  suspend  operations  at 
Butte  and  Anaconda  than  that  involved  in  the  fact  that 
the  price  of  copper  was  very  low  and  that  Mr.  Ryan  be- 


SUBJUGATION    OF   WAGE-EARNERS  107 

lieved  the  time  was  ripe  to  bring  the  miners'  union  to 
terms  with  a  prospect  of  starvation,  such  reason  never 
was  given  publicity  in  any  of  the  many  publications  de- 
voted alike  to  combine  defense  and  flattery  of  Ryan. 

The  Butte  Miners'  Union  at  the  greatest  meeting  of 
its  members  held  in  many  years,  most  of  them  without 
resources  in  reserve,  many  of  them  with  wives  and  chil- 
dren to  care  for,  called  this  pompous  head  of  a  lawless 
combine,  who  ruled  the  state  of  Montana  like  a  despot,  to 
a  complete  show-down.  They  proved  him  false  in  prom- 
ise and  a  quitter  in  performance.  They  challenged  him 
to  contest  with  all  the  odds  and  weapons  in  his  posses- 
sion. He  confessed  his  crime  by  rescinding  his  own  or- 
ders, and  fled  like  a  crook. 

All  things  considered,  that  action  by  the  Butte  Miners' 
Union  on  that  occasion  constituted  as  splendid  an 
exhibition  of  congregate  physical  and  moral  courage  in 
devotion  to  principle  and  disregard  of  self  as  can  be  cited 
since  the  volunteer  armies  of  patriotism  marched  to  death 
to  maintain  free  government  against  the  forces  enlisted 
for  the  extension  of  slavery. 

It  was  the  last  successful  demonstration  by  the  Butte 
Miners'  Union  of  its  power  in  defense  of  the  rights  of  its 
members.  It  is  likely  to  be  the  last  until  there  has  been 
another  change  in  much  of  its  membership,  and  it  may 
have  been  the  cause  of  the  Ryan  policy  which  has  re- 
placed so  much  of  that  membership  in  the  union,  as  well 
as  in  the  mines  and  smelters,  with  "bohunks"  in  place  of 
American  citizens. 


Governmental  Functions  of  a  Wall  Street 
Combine  In  a  Sovereign  State 

In  theory  the  state  of  Montana  has  a  republican  form 
of  government.  In  practice  it  is  governed  by  a  Wall 
street  combine  organized  under  the  laws  of  New  Jersey. 
The  people  rule  ostensibly  and  in  declaration  of  consti- 
tutional provision  through  duly  designated  representa- 
tives. The  corporate  bosses  rule  actually  through  cor- 
rupted and  corrupting  agencies.  The  constitutions  of 
Montana  (Section  I,  Article  IV,)  provided  for  the  divi- 
sion of  government  into  three  co-ordinate  departments, 
legislative,  executive  and  judicial.  The  Amalgamated 
Copper  Company  has  supplied  a  fourth  inordinate 
branch,  with  supervisory  control  over  all,  which  may  be 
properly  designated  as  managerial.  The  Constitution 
of  Montana  (Section  I,  Article  III,)  provided :  "All  po- 
litical power  is  vested  in  and  derived  from  the  people ;  all 
government  of  right  originates  with  the  people ;  is 
founded  upon  their  will  only  and  is  instituted  solely  for 
the  good  of  the  whole."  The  Amalgamated  Copper  Com- 
pany has  determined  that  all  political  power  in  Montana 
is  vested  in  its  agents  and  derived  from  its  managers, 
and  is  an  institution  to  be  exercised,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
chiefly  for  the  gain  of  Wall  Street  speculators. 

So  broad  a  statement  may  be  disputed  by  a  few  offi- 
cial honorables  in  Montana,  proud  of  their  titles  and  wise 
in  the  knowledge  that  they  are  permitted  to  exercise 
their  little  brief  authority  in  public  affairs  compatibly 
with  combine  purposes   and  that  they  receive  at  least 

[109] 


110  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

some  part  of  their  compensation  from  the  public  treas- 
uries in  funds  provided  by  taxpayers.  Possibly  it  may 
be  disputed  by  a  few  honest  and  patriotic  private  citizens, 
who  have  their  knowledge  of  government  from  the 
splendid  state  constitution  and  the  servile  organs  of  pub- 
licity provided  by  the  foreign  corporation.  It  will  not 
be  disputed  by  anybody  with  facts  of  history  relating  to 
legislative,  executive,  or  judicial  action  in  matters  of  im- 
portance wherein  public  interests  conflicted  with  com- 
bine interests  in  the  last  half-dozen  years.  In  previous 
chapters  the  facts  have  been  told  about  the  ways  and 
means  with  which  this  overreaching  organization  ex- 
tended its  interests  and  control  to  include  the  best  de- 
veloped resources  of  the  state,  the  public  press,  and  the 
occupations  of  bread-winners.  All  these  achievements 
were  needful  to  accomplish  control  of  government  in  all 
its  branches  within  the  state.  This  last  accomplishment 
was  essential  to  protect  the  corporate  invaders  against 
penalties  for  lawlessness  already  practiced,  and,  more 
important,  to  give  them  appearance  of  lawful  authority 
and  license  for  unprecedented  extension  of  corporate 
powers,  special  privileges,  and  dishonest  exploitation, 
then  contemplated,  together  with  immunity  from  prose- 
cution and  punishment. 

It  is  not  claimed,  and  it  should  not  be  inferred,  that 
all  public  officials  in  all  branches  of  government  in  Mon- 
tana were  made  flagrantly  and  habitually  dishonest  in 
official  action  by  the  malign  influences  employed  in  the 
expansion  and  exercise  of  corporate  power  through  gov- 
ernment agencies.  It  is  asserted  that  these  influences 
used  these  agencies  successfully  when  they  needed  them 
in  every  great  emergency.  At  best  our  boasted  scheme 
of  popular  government  is  complex  and  doubtful  in  opera- 
tion.    It  is  a  long  way  from  the  perplexed  voter  in  the 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF    A    COMBINE  111 

election  booth,  through  legislation,  administration  and 
litigation,  to  the  final  decision  of  the  court  of  last  resort. 
With  the  current  of  events  obstructed  or  diverted  by 
conflicting  opinions,  rival  ambitions,  party  divisions,  lim- 
itless variety  of  interests,  constitutional  limitations,  maze 
of  judicial  interpretation  and  precedent — there  is  a  wide 
field  of  opportunity  for  the  corporate  lobbyist  to  play 
his  little  joker  and  win  the  trick  for  his  employers  with- 
out disturbing  the  integrity  of  very  many  public  ser- 
vants for  each  transaction.  Moreover,  always  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  this  conquest  of  Montana  was  being 
made  by  Napoleons  and  not  by  novices.  This  was  no 
Robin  Hood  or  Captain  Kidd  adventure  in  lawlessness, 
no  plebeian  holdup  of  belated  citizens.  Quite  the  con- 
trary. Here  was  a  matter  of  big  business  to  be  trans- 
acted between  gentlemen,  all  actuated  by  professed  con- 
cern for  general  prosperity  and  the  public  good.  Here 
are  the  names  of  the  directors  of  the  Amalgamated  Cop- 
per Company  as  printed  in  "The  Manual  of  Statistics, 
Stock  Exchange  Handbook"  for  the  year  1907 ;  Albert  C. 
Burrage,  Boston;  George  H.  Church,  New  York;  John 
E.  Judson,  New  York;  William  Rockefeller,  New  York; 
Henry  H.  Rogers,  New  York;  Henry  H.  Rogers,  Jr., 
New  York;  James  Stillman,  New  York.  The  same  au- 
thority anounced  that  the  main  office  is  42  Broadway, 
New  York,  and  that  the  annual  meeting  is  held  the  first 
Monday  in  June  at  Jersey  City.  Were  these  not  all  hon- 
orable men,  located  in  an  eminently  respectable  neigh- 
borhood, meeting  regularly  according  to  the  laws  of  New 
Jersey?  Was  not  Mr.  John  D.  Ryan,  banker  and  publi- 
cist, their  managing  director  in  and  for  Montana?  Were 
they  not  employing  nearly  15,000  men  in  the  state,  and 
nearly  one  hundred  newspapers,  and  the  most  influential 
persons  they  could   think  of  in  both   political   parties? 


112  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

Were  not  their  mining  managers,  and  railway  men,  and 
lawyers,  and  doctors,  and  merchants,  and  lobbyists, 
among  the  very  best  people  according  to  the  newspapers 
in  their  respective  communities  ?  Were  these  not  electing 
officers  of  banks,  and  of  commercial  clubs,  and  agricul- 
tural societies,  and  of  good  roads  organizations,  and  of 
women's  clubs,  and  of  every  conceivable  sort  of  elee- 
mosynary institutions?  Was  there  any  good  reason  why 
these  public  spirited  gentlemen  should  not  take  an  active 
part  in  politics,  or  why  they  should  not  be  consulted  by 
citizens  who  aspired  to  serve  the  state  as  legislators,  ad- 
ministrators, or  judges?  Did  not  representatives  of 
these  great  and  varied  interests  contribute  liberally,  not 
to  say  lavishly,  to  the  campaign  funds  of  all  political 
parties? 

For  further  particulars  see  the  daily  newspapers  of 
Montana. 

In  a  general  way  the  copper  combine  controls  legisla- 
tion in  Montana  as  other  special  interests  control  legisla- 
tion in  other  states,  and  as  these  have  controlled  legisla- 
tion in  the  national  congress  of  the  country.  It  has  its 
creatures  elected  to  chief  positions  in  the  legislative 
organizations  and  directs  the  makeup  of  committees  for 
both  branches,  as  is  common  elsewhere.  In  Montana  it 
started  with  a  tremendous  advantage,  to  secure  control  at 
each  session,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  a  legislative  ap- 
portionment made  many  years  ago,  when  most  of  the 
population  was  in  mining  and  smelting  districts,  was  re- 
tained notwithstanding  that  the  most  glaring  inequali- 
ties of  representation  existed  under  it.  For  instance, 
Deer  Lodge  County,  where  the  great  smelters  are,  and 
which  is  a  mere  pocket  borough  for  the  combine,  sent 
six  members  to  the  lower  branch  of  the  legislature,  while 
agricultural  Yellowstone  county,  with  a  greater  popula- 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF    A    COMBINE  113 

tion,  had  but  one.  Regular  sessions  of  the  Montana  legis- 
lature are  limited  to  sixty  days  by  constitutional  provi- 
sion. With  control  of  officers  and  committees,  and  with 
experienced  members  and  lobbyists  in  its  employment,  it 
is  not  difficult  for  the  combine  to  delay  objectionable 
measures  and  advance  others  till  the  session  is  more  than 
half  over.  Then  comes  the  conduct  of  business  by  the 
"Steering  Committee",  provided  for  under  a  joint  rule 
which  reads :  "The  special  senate  committee  shall  ap- 
point a  committee  of  five  senators,  and  the  speaker  of  the 
house  shall  appoint  a  like  committee  of  five  house  mem- 
bers, and  such  ten  members,  so  appointed  shall  constitute 
a  Joint  Steering  Committee,  and  such  Joint  Steering  Com- 
mittee shall  on  and  after  the  fortieth  day  of  the  session 
have  the  authority,  and  are  hereby  directed,  to  fix  the 
order  of  consideration  of  all  bills,  memorials  and  resolu- 
tions coming  before  the  senate  or  house  for  considera- 
tion, subject,  however,  to  the  general  provision  that  in 
the  senate  all  house  business  shall  be  first  considered, 
and  in  the  house  all  senate  bills  shall  first  be  considered; 
all  reports  of  the  house  coimmittee  of  such  Joint  Steering 
Committee  shall  be  signed  by  its  chairman  and  shall  also 
be  approved  and  signed  by  the  chairman  of  the  senate 
steering  committee,  and  all  reports  of  the  senate  commit- 
tee of  such  Joint  Steering  Committee  shall  be  signed  by 
its  chairman  and  also  signed  and  approved  by  the  chair- 
man of  the  house  steering  committee." 

Rule  No.  19  provides  that  "No  joint  rule  shall  be  re- 
pealed, amended  or  suspended  except  by  two-thirds  vote 
in  each  house."  All  bills  reported  by  all  standing  com- 
mittees go  to  the  steering  committee.  See  how  this 
operates :  After,  the  steering  committee  favorably  passes 
upon  a  measure,  both  chairmen  of  the  committee  must 
approve  and  sign  it  before  the  measure  may  come  before 


114  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

either  house,  and  there  is  no  power  to  compel  either 
chairman  to  perform  that  act.  The  only  way  to  force  ac- 
tion by  either  committee  or  chairman  is  to  suspend  the 
rule,  which  requires  a  two-thirds  vote  in  each  house. 
There  has  not  been  a  session  of  the  legislature  in  ten 
years  in  Montana  in  which  the  copper  combine  has  not 
had  sufficient  representation  to  prevent  such  action  on 
any  measure.  The  rule  and  practice  in  effect  and  fact 
give  veto  power  on  any  measure  to  each  chairman  of  the 
Steering  Committee.  It  might  be  possible  to  have  some 
men  free  from  combine  influence  as  chairmen  of  that 
committee  but  it  has  not  happened  in  many  years. 

For  complete  understanding  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  combine  and  its  lobbyists  pass  laws  in  Montana,  the 
following  account  of  the  last  day  of  the  last  legislative 
session  in  that  state,  1911,  is  reproduced  here.  It  was 
written  by  Mr.  James  W.  Scott,  experienced  and  capable 
in  legislative  reporting,  and  as  reliable  and  trustworthy  a 
news-writer  as  was  ever  employed  on  any  newspaper : 

"The  closing  scenes  of  the  Montana  legislative  ses- 
sion this  year  were  marked  by  even  more  flagrant  disre- 
gard of  law,  order,  decency  and  common  sense  than  have 
characterized  preceding  sessions.  Spectators  in  either 
house  during  the  last  day,  evening  and  night  of  the  ses- 
sion, who  had  not  had  previous  experience  with  Montana 
legislatures,  were  astounded  at  the  spectacle  presented. 
The  feature  that  made  them  gasp  was  the  reckless  and 
abandoned  manner  in  which  bills  were  railroaded  through 
the  legislative  process. 

"This  desperate  and  unseemly  struggle  to  perfect  in 
twenty-four  hours  legislation  that  had  been  dallied  with 
for  two  months  is  one  of  the  most  disgraceful  delin- 
quencies of  the  Montana  lawmakers.  The  present  legis- 
lature was  one  of  the  worst  offenders  in  years.     This 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF   A    COMBINE  115 

legislature  passed  223  bills,  and  114  of  these  were  rushed 
through  on  the  last  legislative  day.  At  least  sixty  or 
seventy  of  these  bills  were  not  conveyed  to  the  governor 
till  after  midnight  of  the  last  day  when  the  power  of  the 
legislature  legally  to  enact  laws  had  expired  by  the  opera- 
tion of  the  organic  law. 

"When  a  legislature  comes  to  its  last  day  with  two 
or  three  hundred  bills  undisposed  of,  and  undertakes  to 
pound  half  of  them  through  both  houses  before  the  ses- 
sion concludes,  it  simply  delivers  itself  to  chaos.  The 
work  of  the  house  and  senate  on  the  last  nights  included 
both  chaos  and  pandemonium.  All  day  bills  were  rushed 
through  committee  of  the  whole  and  third  reading  in 
both  houses,  without  knowledge  or  understanding  on  the 
part  of  anybody  as  to  the  merits  of  any  of  them.  All 
rules  were  disregarded.  To  make  matters  worse  than 
usual  this  session,  the  joint  assembly  absorbed  the  time 
from  noon  till  evening,  and  an  evening  recess  took  the 
rest  of  the  time  till  ten  o'clock. 

"From  ten  o'clock  till  one  the  next  morning,  an  hour 
after  the  legislative  session  had  legally  ended,  the  same 
feverish,  roaring  mill  of  reckless  legislation  was  kept  go- 
ing at  top  speed.  The  committees  of  the  whole  and  on 
third  reading  were  alternated  with  committee  reports, 
which  were  adopted  without  consideration,  bills  being 
advanced  for  consideration,  considered  in  the  committee 
of  the  whole  and  passed  on  third  reading  in  a  perfect 
stream,  while  perhaps  not  five  per  cent,  of  the  members 
in  either  house  even  caught  the  numbers  of  the  measures, 
much  less  the  titles. 

"This  part  of  the  work  was  concluded  some  time  after 
one  o'clock,  and  the  sixty  or  seventy  bills  that  had  piled 
up  on  the  army  of  enrolling  clerks  by  that  time  was  so 
great  that  those  workers  were  unable  to  finish  enrolling 


116  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

them  till  8  o'clock  the  next  morning.  More  enrolling 
clerks  than  ever  before  employed  struggled  with  this 
overwhelming  mass  of  work,  and  although  they  toiled  at 
top  speed,  they  were  given  bills  and  more  bills  beyond 
their  power  to  handle  as  the  night  passed. 

"There  was  no  attempt  to  engross  the  measures.  The 
rule  to  engross  bills  was  suspended,  and  bills  recom- 
mended by  committee  of  the  whole  were  considered  en- 
grossed and  placed  on  third  reading  without  comment. 
Committee  meetings  on  bills,  too,  were  early  abolished 
on  the  last  day.  The  way  the  measures  were  acted  upon 
in  committee  rivalled  the  performance  in  the  houses;  the 
chairmen  of  the  committees  merely  took  time  to  sign  re- 
ports and  present  them  to  the  house  or  senate.  In  the 
senate  some  senator  weakly  protested  that  a  committee 
had  not  acted  upon  a  bill  that  had  been  favorably  re- 
ported. Immediately  a  motion  to  dispense  with  such 
meetings  was  made  and  carried,  and  then  committee  ac- 
tion became  an  endorsed  formality. 

"The  steering  committee  resolved  itself  into  the 
chairmen  of  the  two  sections.  They  gave  up  the  entirely 
superfluous  work  of  making  reports,  and  merely  wrote 
the  numbers  of  the  bills  that  they  desired  acted  upon  on 
the  blackboards  of  the  house,  tossing  the  bills  up  to  the 
clerk,  who  read  them  in  committee  of  the  whole  at  the 
order  of  the  chairman  as  they  were  reached.  It  was  as 
good  as  a  show  to  watch  Senators  Gallwey(  presiding 
officer)  and  Edwards  (joint  committee  chairman)  work 
together  in  this  fashion  on  Thursday  night.  Edwards 
would  drop  a  bunch  of  bills  on  the  clerk's  desk,  and  walk 
over  to  the  blackboard  and  write  the  numbers;  Gallwey 
would  glance  at  the  blackboard,  picking  up  the  numbers 
with  his  eagle  eye,  and  call  them  off  one  after  another 
with  lightning  speed;  the  clerk  would  mumble  through 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF   A    COMBINE  117 

the  title  at  a  ripping-  rate,  and  the  bill  would  be  before  the 
senate.  Some  senator  who  had  caught  the  number  would 
move  that  the  bill  be  recommended.  Gallwey  would  put 
the  motion,  there  would  be  a  grunt,  and  that  bill  would 
be  up  to  third  reading. 

"That  any  of  the  senators  knew  what  measures  were 
washing  through  on  this  stormy  tide  of  meaningless 
words  and  numbers,  save  bills  they  had  been  pursuing 
for  personal  reasons,  and  which  exclusively  occupied 
them  and  the  perfect  horde  of  lobbyists  who  filled  the 
aisles,  lined  the  walls,  and  occupied  the  seats  of  members 
and  guests,  is  quite  impossible.  Besides,  the  senate  was 
helpless  to  change  the  proceeding  and  block  the  work  of 
the  bosses.  There  was  an  ocean  of  bills  that  all  knew 
must  be  got  through  to  keep  the  obligations  with  mem- 
bers and  lobbyists,  and  any  effort  to  consider  these  meas- 
ures soberly  would  simply  leave  ninety  per  cent,  unacted 
upon. 

"In  the  house  in  the  morning,  the  situation  was  per- 
haps as  bad  or  worse  than  in  the  evening,  for  the  cham- 
ber was  more  than  half  deserted ;  the  members  had  so 
many  personal  irons  in  the  fire  which  had  to  be  attended 
to  that  they  could  not  remain  in  their  seats  to  consider 
bills  of  interest  merely  to  the  people  of  Montana.  The 
result  was,  that,  in  committee  of  the  whole,  the  title  of  a 
bill  would  be  read,  and  somebody  would  move  its  re- 
commendation ;  the  motion  would  carry,  and  that  would 
be  all.  A  dozen  times  members,  suspecting  that  the  bill 
before  the  house  might  be  of  interest  to  them  in  some 
personal  way,  would  arise  and  ask  for  the  number  or  the 
title  again.  The  motions  were  carried  with  half  a  dozen 
ayes,  and  on  third  reading  the  absentees  would  number 
almost  as  many  as  those  voting.  All  around  the  chamber 
and  gallery  comments  on  the  procedure,  grins,  indignant 


118  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

criticisms,  and  cynical  remarks  were  uttered  by  astounded 
and  shocked  spectators. 

''Besides  the  utter  lack  of  sane  or  decent  considera- 
tion of  the  final  hundred  or  more  bills  passed  on  the  final 
dav  and  night,  the  system  and  process  described 
were  also  attended  by  features  of  another  char- 
acter even  more  harmful  to  public  interest.  All 
the  objectionable  bills,  all  measures  that  the 
Amalgamated-Anaconda  copper  company  and  Ryan 
and  Morony  didn't  want,  died  in  committees.  The 
steering  committee  was  a  tremendous  burying  ground. 
In  the  best  of  times  it  is  mighty  hard  work  to  force  a 
measure  of  any  kind  through  the  Montana  legislature 
against  the  opposition  of  the  interests ;  this  is  so  well  un- 
derstood that  all  attempts  to  advance  measures  of  this 
kind  were  given  up  on  the  last  day  by  their  friends,  and 
these  were  allowed  to  perish  without  a  protest. 

'The  moral  of  the  case  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
in  the  process  described  the  legislature  of  Montana  does 
not  enact  legislation  because  it  is  valuable  to  the  people 
nor  kill  bills  that  are  harmful,  but  makes  laws  and  pre- 
vents laws  to  suit  the  interests." 

This  picture  was  true  to  life,  lacking  rather  than  ex- 
aggerating in  detail.  In  other  chapters  devoted  to  par- 
ticular enterprises  of  combine  perfection  there  will  be 
specific  examples  of  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial 
power  diverted  from  public  service  to  serve  corporate  in- 
terests. Mere  repetition  of  instances  of  these  crimes 
against  the  state,  committed  in  the  name  of,  and  under 
authority  of,  state  agencies,  might  serve  to  tire  the  reader 
as  well  as  the  criminals. 

The  misuse  of  the  executive  or  administrative  depart- 
ments of  government  in  the  service  of  this  foreign  cor- 
poration has  been  unmistakable  and  frequent.    The  term 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF   A    COMBINE  119 

of  office  of  governor  of  the  state  covers  four  years.  The 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company  during  the  period  cov- 
ering both  its  conflicts  and  its  supremacy  has  had  to  deal 
with  but  two  men  in  the  office  of  governor,  Joseph  K. 
Toole  and  Edwin  L.  Norris.  Mr.  Toole  had  served  as  a 
delegate  of  the  territory  in  congress  and  was  the  first 
governor  of  the  new  state.  Great  physically  and  men- 
tally, handsome  and  eloquent,  patriotic  and  outspoken  in 
advocacy  of  the  interests  of  common  people,  he  acquired 
a  state-wide  reputation  as  "honest  Joe  Toole"  and  had 
become  regarded  as  almost  invincible  in  a  campaign 
where  the  result  depended  upon  the  popular  vote.  In 
previous  pages  he  has  been  quoted  with  warning  against 
the  very  dangers  of  monopoly  control  now  fastened  upon 
the  state,  and  it  has  been  told  that  a  representative  of 
the  Amalgamated  Company  and  its  allied  forces  boasted 
that  $80,000  were  expended  to  keep  Toole  out  of  a  demo- 
cratic state  convention  as  a  delegate  from  Lewis  and 
Clark  county  in  the  early  years  of  Amalgamated  enter- 
prise. The  expenditure  was  extravagant  failure,  because 
the  same  forces,  with  their  unlimited  means,  were  unable 
to  defeat  Toole  as  candidate  for  governor.  Upon  con- 
stitutional grounds  he  had  vetoed  one  "fair  trial  bill" 
pushed  through  the  legislature  in  early  effort  to  halx 
Heinze's  misuse  of  Silver  Bow  county  courts.  He  was 
governor  in  1903,  and  broke  with  Heinze  to  call  the  legis- 
lature in  special  session  when  Amalgamated  properties 
were  closed  down  by  Judge  Clancy's  decision ;  and  he 
approved  the  fair  trial  law  enacted  at  that  session.  There 
was  justification  for  this  action  by  Governor  Toole  in 
public  necessities  as  well  as  in  the  need  of  the  legislation 
to  relieve  the  state  from  the  judicial  lawlesness  fostered 
through  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  subordinate  judges  over 
questions  of  fact  in  equity  cases.     But  Governor  Toole 


120  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

did  not  stop  with  this  service  mutually  beneficial  and 
just  to  the  public  and  to  the  Amalgamated  Company.  He 
not  only  became  a  political  favorite  and  beneficiary  of  the 
combine  but  the  tone  of  his  public  utterances,  the  char- 
acter of  his  official  recommendations,  and  almost  the 
whole  policy  of  his  administration,  were  subjected  to 
radical  change  in  the  "conservative"  direction.  In  1904 
he  was  re-elected  as  a  democrat  by  a  large  majority,  al- 
though President  Roosevelt  carried  the  state  for  presi- 
dent with  like  handsome  endorsement  and  all  the  suc- 
cessful candidates  for  state  offices  other  than  governor 
and  lieutenant  governor  were  on  the  opposition  ticket. 
This  happened  notwithstanding  that  the  republican  can- 
didate for  governor  was  Hon.  William  Lindsay,  an  old- 
time  citizen,  with  a  long  time  record  of  unyielding  hon- 
esty in  official  life  and  of  courageous  warfare  against  po- 
litical corruption  in  the  years  when  the  Clark-Daly  feud 
had  made  it  almost  universal.  Governor  Toole  had  sacri- 
ficed something  of  his  hold  on  good  opinion  by  his 
marked  change  of  attitude  towards  corporate  aggres- 
sions, but  every  influence  subject  to  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany direction,  without  danger  of  reaction  from  exposure, 
was  enlisted  in  support  of  Mr.  Toole ;  even  to  the  extreme 
of  election  frauds  in  Butte,  of  which  it  is  only  fair  to  pre- 
sume he  was  ignorant.  He  resigned  the  office  near  the 
end  of  the  term  on  the  plea  of  ill  health  and  has  not  been 
active  in  political  affairs  of  the  state  since  that  time.  His 
successor  was  Edwin  L.  Norris,  elected  to  be  lieutenant 
governor.  Governor  Norris  was  like  Governor  Toole  in 
being  a  lawyer  with  a  pleasing  personality.  He  was  a 
smaller  man  both  physically  and  mentally;  and  he  never 
had  been  "unsatisfactory"  to  the  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany as  a  legislator  or  a  candidate.  In  1908  Governor 
Norris  was  elected  to  the  office  directly,  on  the  demo- 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF   A    COMBINE  121 

cratic  ticket,  while  the  republicans  were  permitted  to 
give  Mr.  Taft  a  majority  of  many  thousands  and  to  elect 
every  other  candidate  on  their  state  ticket,  the  political 
double  dealing  of  the  combine  managers  being  more 
open  and  easily  traceable  in  the  returns  than  in  1904. 
Governor  Norris  has  been  radically  outspoken  for  public 
interests  in  messages  to  the  legislature  and  in  public  ad- 
dresses. He  has  been  an  abject  tool  of  the  combine  when- 
ever and  wherever  they  have  seemed  to  need  his  official 
action  or  influence.  The  chief  lobbyist  for  the  copper 
combine,  in  a  public  resort  in  Helena,  has  been  known  to 
have  called  the  governor  to  the  telephone  to  give  him  in- 
structions. The  extreme  confidence  which  the  combine 
managers  reposed  in  the  serviceable  qualities  of  this  ex- 
ecutive is  at  least  indicated  by  the  fact  that  to  support  and 
elect  him  they  were  willing  to  trick  and  betray,  in  his 
opponent,  Senator  Edward  Donlan,  who,  in  his 
legislative  career,  during  the  Heinze-Amalgamated 
fight,  had  been  their  faithful  and  influential  supporter. 
Mr.  Donlan  had  secured  the  nomination  in  the  republican 
convention  after  a  vigorous  fight,  whereby  he  had  de- 
feated the  plans  as  well  as  the  candidate  of  Senator  Car- 
ter, at  that  time  the  combine's  chief  representative  in 
the  republican  party  of  Montana,  as  well  as  at  Washing- 
ton. A  few  days  before  election  there  were  whispered 
communications  between  some  republicans  that  word 
had  been  received  from  John  D.  Ryan,  head  of  the  com- 
bine and  nominal  democrat,  that  the  republicans  could 
have  the  electoral  vote  of  Montana  for  Taft  and  all  the 
other  state  offices  if  the  company  could  have  its  way  on 
the  governorship.  On  election  night  in  Helena,  Mr.  T. 
Arthur  Marlowe,  banker,  allied  in  interests  and  main- 
taining intimate  relations  with  combine  agencies,  a  rene- 
gade democrat  since  the  election  of  1904,  and  treasurer 


122  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

of  a  republican  campaign  committee  in  1908,  was  in  The 
Helena  Record  office  with  other  republicans  receiving 
election  returns.  Bulletin  after  bulletin  came  from  Butte 
showing  that  Taft  and  Norris,  republican  for  president 
and  democrat  for  governor,  were  running  closely  to- 
gether in  that  combine  stronghold.  As  a  message  was 
received  strongly  exhibiting  this  peculiar  discrepancy  of 
political  sentiment  in  Butte,  Mr.  Marlowe  exclaimed : 
"That  shows  what  the  company  can  do  when  it  tries." 
Less  than  four  years  later  Mr.  Marlowe  was  elected  to 
be  a  member  of  the  republican  national  committee  from 
Montana  and  sent  as  a  committeeman  to  the  national  con- 
vention in  Chicago  to  support  Taft,  both  results  being  ob- 
tained by  political  jobbery,  bribery,  bull-dozing  methods 
and  defeat  of  public  sentiment ;  which  also  shows  what  the 
company  can  do  when  it  tries.  If  these  intricacies  of 
treachery  and  fraud  and  corruption  in  combine  efforts  to 
determine  the  selection  of  executive  officers  of  govern- 
ment are  relevant  to  show  that  the  same  influences  and 
interests  control  such  executives  when  selected,  it  is 
pertinent  and  proper  to  mention  them  here. 

Judicial  officers  in  Montana  are  supported  or  op- 
posed, as  candidates  for  office  and  as  officers  in  power, 
by  the  combine  organization  with  the  same  influences 
and  the  same  methods  which  are  used  to  secure  results 
in  other  departments  of  government.  There  may  be  up- 
right judges  in  the  state  who  owe  their  position  in  part 
to  support  of  combine  influences,  and  whose  minds  are 
unbiased  and  whose  decisions  are  unaffected  by  consid- 
eration of  corporate  political  powers ;  but  there  is  no 
upright  judge  on  the  bench  in  that  state  who  will  be 
indebted  to  such  support  for  a  second  term  if  his  de- 
cisions and  opinions  conflict  seriously  or  frequently  with 
the  abundant  precedents  which  in  case  of  doubt  or  tech- 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF    A    COMBINE  123 

nicality  give  the  corporation  the  benefit  of  both.  Take 
the  testimony  of  a  lawyer  who  has  been  employed  both 
for  and  against  these  interests,  and  who  was  talking  as 
a  candidate  for  a  judicial  position  to  an  audience  com- 
posed chiefly  of  wage-earners  employed  by  these  inter- 
ests in  Silver  Bow  county: 

"Of  what  benefit  is  it  to  you  that,  if  you  are  injured 
in  the  employ  of  a  corporation,  you  have  the  right  to 
bring  suit  and  recover.  The  records  of  the  courts  show 
that  the  workingman  does  not  prevail  in  such  suits  once 
in  twenty-five  times  If  he  does  prevail,  the  records  of 
law  offices  show  that  he,  or  his  widow  or  orphans,  re- 
ceives not  more  than  one-half  of  the  amount  realized." 

"What  does  it  profit  you  to  be  allowed  to  sue  your 
master  for  injuries  received  in  his  service?  Who  is 
your  master  here  in  this  county?  The  Amalgamated 
Copper  Company  is  your  master.  How  many  of  you 
has  your  master  killed  or  injured  in  the  last  ten  years? 
About  one  of  you  a  day.  How  many  suits  have  you 
brought  against  your  master  for  such  injuries  or  deaths? 
Hundreds.  How  many  verdicts  have  there  been  against 
your  master  in  such  suits  in  ten  years?  One.  Was  that 
verdict  paid?  No.  It  was  cancelled  by  the  supreme 
court  of  Montana.  Did  Mr.  Justice  Smith  of  the  su- 
preme court  of  Montana  restore  the  lost  leg  when  he 
wrote  the  decision  cancelling  that  one  verdict?  No. 
Dennis  Leary  is  still  walking  on  one  leg.  Will  the  writ- 
ing of  that  decision  help  Mr.  Justice  Smith  to  the  fed- 
eral bench  when  vacancy  occurs  in  this  district?  Yes, 
or  to  any  other  higher  place  which  the  republican  party 
of  this  state  has  to  give.  Was  Leary's  case  reversed 
because  he  chose  a  poor  lawyer?  No.  He  had  John  J. 
McHatton,  the  most  successful  lawyer  in  the  state. 

"And  how  much  will  it  profit  you  if  you  sue  a  corpor- 
ation in  the  federal  court,  where  twelve  must  agree  be- 


124  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

fore  a  verdict  and  where  that  twelve  is  drawn  mostly 
from  a  class  to  which  the  workingman  does  not  belong? 
It  is  surprising,  doubtless,  to  the  workingman  that  well- 
nigh  all  of  the  suits  between  servant  and  master  find 
their  way  to  the  federal  courts.  The  reason  is  that  this 
court  indulges  in  a  presumption  which  nine  times  out 
of  ten  is  absolutely  false,  but  to  dispute  which  that  court 
will  not  hear  evidence  of  the  truth.  That  court  presumes 
that  if  a  corporation  be  organized  under  the  laws  of  New 
Jersey,  its  stockholders  are  citizens  of  New  Jersey. 
Nor  will  it  hear  a  workingman  in  Montana,  a  plaintiff, 
testify  to  the  fact  that  all  of  the  stockholders  of  that 
New  Jersey  corporation  are  residents  and  citizens  of 
Montana.  That  court  will  not  hear  the  workingman  in 
such  a  suit  testify  that  all  of  the  property  and  all  of  the 
franchises  and  all  of  the  operations  of  that  corporation 
are  in  Montana,  and  that  the  only  thing  that  that  New 
Jersey  corporation  has  in  New  Jersey  is  a  charter  and 
stock  book  and  the  dummy  director. 


"Of  what  benefit  is  the  right  to  sue  and  the  right  to 
recover  when  it  is  physically  impossible  that  any  re- 
covery is  had  in  one  case  out  of  twenty-five?  It  is  but 
a  bribe  and  a  bait  to  tell  the  workingman  that  he  will 
receive  any  benefit  whatsoever  from  the  enactment  or 
the  enforcement  of  safety  appliance  laws.  He  should 
insist  on  that  law  which  every  civilized  nation  on  earth 
has  adopted,  with  the  exception  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  is,  that  the  business  carried  on  should  take 
care  of  its  cripples  and  its  orphans ;  that  the  traffic  should 
be  made  to  pay,  in  addition  to  its  millions  of  dividends 
on  watered  stock,  a  fair  price  for  the  labor  power  it 
inevitably  takes  from  such  as  have  naught  else  to  sell. 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF    A    COMBINE  125 

"Theodore  Roosevelt  proposed  this  law  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  workingman  in  his  speech  at  Yorktown  two 
years  ago.  He  said,  'that  the  master's  insurance  of  the 
workingman  was  only  just.'  This  statement  marked 
the  downfall  of  his  popularity  with  the  leaders  of  his 
party." 

The  unmistakable  exercise  of  controlling  power  over 
government  agencies  is  demonstrated  by  such  a  record 
of  results.  Use  of  this  power  was  not  confined  to  the 
determination  of  issues  of  large  importance.  It  was 
exercised  in  minor  affairs  wherever  monopoly  profits 
could  be  enhanced  in  the  slightest  degree,  or  whenever 
it  could  be  utilized  to  extend  and  perfect  the  power 
itself. 

It  has  been  mentioned  how  great  advantage  in  pol- 
itics and  legislation  was  secured  by  maintaining  a  mani- 
festly unfair  legislative  apportionment  of  the  state  with 
excess  of  representation  in  the  mining  and  industrial 
district  where  corporation  power  was  concentrated. 
Under  the  scheme  of  representation  each  county  is  en- 
titled to  one  state  senator  and  at  least  one  member  of 
the  house  of  representatives.  Agricultural  development 
of  the  state  has  been  rapid  in  recent  years,  with  large 
increase  of  population  in  territory  previously  used  as 
ranges  for  cattle  and  sheep  on  the  public  domain.  In 
this  territory  there  were  counties  with  area  greater  than 
that  of  any  one  of  a  number  of  states,  and  their  settle- 
ment created  conditions  whereby  citizens  were  com- 
pelled to  travel  hundreds  of  miles,  with  large  expense 
of  transportation  and  loss  of  time,  to  reach  the  county 
seat.  Until  the  year  1911  all  county  divisions  were  made 
by  the  legislature.  To  create  new  counties  in  agricul- 
tural sections  was  to  increase  legislative  representation 
for  citizens  independent  of  corporate  influence  to  a  great 


126  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

extent.  Notwithstanding  apparent  needs  and  frequent 
demands,  only  three  counties  were  created  after  Amal- 
gamated supremacy,  prior  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  in 
1911  which  made  it  possible,  although  very  difficult,  for 
the  people  of  a  county  to  divide  its  territory  without 
special  legislative  action.  Two  of  these  counties,  Lin- 
coln and  Sanders,  were  located  in  the  mountainous  tim- 
bered sections  of  western  Montana  where  the  Amalga- 
mated Company  and  its  allied  interests  owned  the  greater 
part  of  the  land  and  timber  not  held  by  the  government 
in  forest  reserve,  and  where  the  larger  part  of  the  pop- 
ulation was  employed  in  lumber  operations  of  the  cor- 
poration or  its  customers.  The  third,  and  the  only 
new  county  in  the  vast  agricultural  region,  was  Mus- 
selshell, where  the  chief  town  and  county  seat  of  Round- 
up had  for  its  industry  the  operation  of  extensive  coal 
mines  owned  by  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  Puget 
Sound  Railway  Company,  which  in  turn  was  owned  by 
the  same  interests  in  control  of  the  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany and  managed,  in  part  at  least,  by  the  same  direc- 
tors. The  extension  of  this  railway  through  the  state 
afforded  other  examples  of  corporation  care  over  politi- 
cal affairs.  The  principal  shops  of  the  company  in  Mon- 
tana were  located  in  Powell  county,  hostile  to  the  cop- 
per corporation  by  reason  of  extensive  and  unliquidated 
damages  to  agriculture  and  livestock  from  smelter 
fumes.  This  colonizing  of  railway  employees  in  the 
city  of  Deer  Lodge  gave  to  the  corporate  interests  con- 
trolling power  in  elections  in  Powell  county.  Similar 
enterprise  and  generous  consideration  to  Miles  City 
gave  to  the  same  interests  a  large  influence  in  an  im- 
portant county  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  state,  which  in 
earlier  times  had  been  derisively  designated  by  corporate 
politicians  and  lobbyists  as  the  cow  country. 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF    A    COMBINE  127 

It  is  difficult  to  decide  how  many  and  what  illustra- 
tions of  this  combine  use  of  governmental  functions  are 
desirable  or  necessary  to  inform  readers,  in  the  presence 
of  plainly  apparent  conditions  and  results  which  show 
conclusively  that  almost  all  exercise  of  governmental 
powers  in  all  branches  is  tainted  with  corporate  influ- 
ence and  activity.  Lavish  promises  in  party  platforms 
and  by  party  candidates  for  laws  and  policies,  both  in 
the  general  public  interest  and  for  relief  of  specific 
wrongs  and  hardships  against  wage-earners,  were  ignored 
in  legislative  and  executive  action  or  openly  violated  in 
disregard  of  public  protest  by  labor  organizations  and 
citizens.  Through  four  successive  biennial  sessions  of 
the  legislature,  action  to  fulfil  promises  made  by  both 
parties  for  a  primary  election  law  was  defeated  by  shame- 
ful jobbery  and  jugglery.  In  every  session  some  pre- 
tense of  performance  was  made  to  save  the  political  lives 
of  recreant  members  by  deceiving  the  voters.  In  place 
of  legislation  to  improve  unsanitary  conditions  in  the 
deep  Butte  mines  and  to  give  better  protection  to  miners 
against  death  or  injury  by  accidents,  a  legislative  com- 
mittee, satisfactory  to  the  corporation,  was  appointed  to 
investigate,  was  sent  to  Butte,  was  entertained  by  offi- 
cers and  lobbyists  of  the  company  in  lavish  style,  and, 
after  a  visit  so  brief  as  scarcely  to  qualify  the  committee- 
men intelligently  to  distinguish  between  a  hoist  and  a 
dump,  this  committee  returned  an  elaborate  report  ex- 
onerating the  corporation  from  fault  or  responsibility  in 
existing  evils  whereby  the  death  rate  in  Butte  mines 
annually  was  proportionally  greater  than  for  the  entire 
city  of  Butte  from  other  causes,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
hundreds  of  cripples,  and  the  still  greater  number  of  men 
whose  health  was  destroyed  by  unsanitary  conditions 
preventable  by  reasonable  expenditure. 


128  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

In  like  fashion  and  with  similar  result  there  was  a 
pretense  of  legislative  investigation  of  the  coal  trust  in 
Montana  during  the  session  of  1907.  Besides  mining 
coal  in  Wyoming,  in  the  Bear  Creek  district,  and  at 
Roundup  in  Montana,  for  use  in  mines  and  smelters  and 
on  its  railways,  this  Wall  Street  aggregation  has  retail 
yards  and  sells  coal  from  all  these  fields  to  the  public 
for  domestic  uses.  Although  there  are  great  coal  fields 
in  much  the  larger  part  of  Montana's  vast  area,  and  de- 
veloped mines  under  private  ownership  within  from  two 
to  five  hundred  miles  of  the  chief  centers  of  population, 
the  price  of  bituminous  coal  for  domestic  uses  is  main- 
tained at  so  high  a  figure  and  with  so  much  uniformity 
of  retail  value  as  to  amount  to  a  demonstration  of  the 
existence  of  a  combination  in  restraint  of  trade,  and  to 
fix  prices  which  in  1907  were  at  times  ranging  about 
nine  dollars  per  ton  for  mine  run  of  soft  coal.  The 
special  legislative  committee  held  solemn  sessions,  took 
voluminous  testimony  largely  from  agents  or  beneficia- 
ries of  the  conspiracy — and  nothing  came  of  it. 

If  there  be  doubt  in  any  minds  respecting  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  Napoleons  in  Wall  Street  for  these 
governmental  abuses  in  Montana,  it  may  be  removed  by 
consideration  of  the  actual  conduct  of  one  of  the  big 
men  engaged  in  little  business  of  government  in  the 
treasure  state.  In  the  spring  of  1907,  in  the  city  of  Ana- 
conda, a  spirited  contest  was  started  preliminary  to  the 
election  of  members  of  the  city  school  board.  The  ex- 
citement hinged  upon  the  question  of  church  influence 
in  the  public  schools,  stimulated  by  the  retirement  of 
an  efficient  and  popular  man  at  the  head  of  the  schools 
and  the  selection  of  an  educator  with  qualifications  for 
the  work,  but  who  was  known  to  have  been  indebted 
to  Butte  influences  and  other  considerations  for  his  em- 


GOVERNMENTAL    FUNCTIONS    OF   A    COMBINE  129 

ployment.  As  election  day  approached  the  awakened 
prejudices  became  very  strong  and  a  menace  to  the 
harmonious  control  of  the  town  by  the  corporate  influ- 
ences. Mr.  John  D.  Ryan,  managing  director,  came  on 
from  New  York  and  was  advised  that  appeal  had  been 
made  for  Butte  influence  in  the  contest.  He  went  to 
Anaconda,  and  with  threats  of  loss  of  employment  with 
the  company  to  all  directly  concerned  in  the  rival  can- 
didacies, he  compelled  all  of  the  candidates  on  both  sides 
to  agree  not  to  serve  if  elected.  With  like  power  of  au- 
thority he  secured  from  the  county  superintendent  of 
schools,  who  was  by  law  vested  with  the  power  of  filling 
vacancies  on  the  school  board,  an  agreement  to  appoint 
as  members  of  the  board  the  persons  named  on  a  list 
furnished  by  himself.  This  arrangement  was  carried 
out  to  the  last  detail,  and  the  public  schools  of  Anaconda 
were  placed  under  the  management  of  a  man  selected 
in  Butte  in  a  way  dictated  by  the  gentleman  from  New 
York.  However  much  people  may  differ  respecting  the 
necessity  or  wisdom  of  such  heroic  means  to  settle  a  local 
school  controversy,  they  must  agree  that  the  action  taken 
furnishes  something  more  than  circumstantial  evi- 
dence of  the  power  of  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Com- 
pany, through  its  organization  and  agents,  to  exercise 
some  functions  of  government  in  Montana. 


How  Lawmakers,  Governors  and  Lesser 
Officials  are  Chosen  and  Confirmed 

Public  office  in  Montana  being  one  of  the  most  valu- 
able assets  of  a  private  trust,  the  selection  of  public 
officials  is  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  cor- 
porate boss  employed  by  the  American  kings  of  wealth 
to  direct  affairs  in  that  commonwealth.  The  party  boss, 
against  whom  the  people  in  many  states  have  cam- 
paigned regularly  and  with  only  partial  success  for  a 
score  or  more  of  years,  in  Montana  has  become  a  mere 
servile  tool  of  the  more  perfect  organization  of  the  cor- 
porate combine.  The  amalgamation  of  political  influ- 
ences within  the  state  has  been  more  complete  than  that 
of  copper  mining  industries.  When  Mr.  John  G. 
Morony  invited  public  confidence  and  good  will  by  pro- 
claiming that  the  company  had  determined  to  "keep  out 
of  politics"  he  would  have  been  concisely  truthful  if  he 
had  but  added  "and  to  keep  politics  in  the  company". 
This  comprehensive  combine,  in  the  Butte  vernacular, 
"swallowed  the  works"  in  the  political  field  just  as  it 
did  in  the  industrial  and  financial  and  speculative  fields. 
It  has  no  declared  candidates  of  its  own,  but  it  gen- 
erously selects  and  elects  or  defeats  candidates  for  all 
parties. 

Nominally,  President  John  D.  Ryan  is  a  partisan 
democrat.  So  was  Mr.  John  G.  Morony  when  manag- 
ing director.  So  is  Mr.  "Con."  F.  Kelly  who  succeeded 
him.  Mr.  E.  P.  Mathewson,  general  manager  of  the 
great  smelters  and  almost  everything  else  in  Anaconda, 

[131] 


132  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

is  the  same  kind  of  a  republican.  So  is  Mr.  C.  H.  Good- 
ale,  who  has  charge  of  Great  Falls  smelters  and  some 
mining  operations  in  Butte.  Mr.  John  Gillie,  general 
superintendent  of  the  company,  democrat;  Mr.  L.  O. 
Evans,  head  of  the  combine  legal  department,  republi- 
can; Mr.  Harry  Gallwey,  manager  of  the  combine  rail- 
way company,  democrat;  Mr.  Charles  Schwartz,  com- 
pany tax  commissioner,  republican ;  Mr.  John  R.  Toole, 
head  of  the  great  lumber  department,  democrat.  Thus 
it  runs  to  the  most  humble  position  of  employment  in 
all  the  constituent,  subsidiary  or  subsidized  interests — 
just  as  it  might  be  if  the  combine  was,  in  practice  as  in 
pretense,  "out  of  politics".  But  each  and  all  of  the 
gentlemen  named,  and  almost  all  of  the  thousands  un- 
named, actively  participate  in  political  primaries,  in 
conventions,  at  elections,  or  as  lobbyists;  regardless  of 
party  policies,  or  promises,  or  interests,  and  with  as 
strict  devotion  to  the  wishes  of  their  superiors  and  the 
lawless  purpose  of  the  combine  as  they  do  in  their  re- 
spective positions  in  the  industrial  organization  of  the 
company.  Mr.  Ryan  supported  Mr.  Roosevelt  in  1904, 
and  Mr.  Taft  in  1908  and  thus  far  in  1912,  with  all  avail- 
able influences  in  Montana.  Morony  and  Kelly  and 
Mathewson  and  Goodale  and  Gallwey  and  Toole  and 
Schwartz  and  Ryan,  et  al.,  worked  in  their  respective 
parties,  in  or  out  of  convention  in  their  various  ways, 
to  the  same  end  held  in  view  by  the  New  York  managers 
on  every  occasion.  Of  course  the  press  of  the  state, 
controlled  by  the  same  influences,  edited  by  the  same 
sort  of  nominal  partisans,  is  directed  with  regard  to  the 
one  desired  result.  It  is  impossible  that  intelligent  citi- 
zens, awakened  to  and  alarmed  by  the  menaces  to  free 
government  involved  in  the  encroachments  on  power  by 
party  bosses,  can  have  much  doubt  about  the  influences 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     133 

which  rule  politics  in  Montana  with  a  situation  existing 
as  described.  It  may  serve  to  enlarge  their  understand- 
ing of  and  to  extend  their  interest  in  public  affairs  to 
learn  something  in  detail  of  the  ways  and  means  em- 
ployed in  the  selection  and  election  of  presidential  elec- 
tors, of  United  States  senators,  and  members  of  congress, 
governors,  state  legislators,  tax  officers,  and  coroners,  in 
a  great  state,  when  and  where  a  Wall  Street  oligarchy 
becomes  interested  and  organized  for  business. 

There  never  has  been  a  political  campaign  in  Mon- 
tana since  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  was  or- 
ganized which  the  New  York  bosses  have  not  attempted 
to  direct  to  a  result,  with  profit  to  themselves  at  the 
public  expense.  The  combine's  first  substantial  victory 
in  Silver  Bow  county  and  in  the  state  came  in  1904.  In 
1908  it  had  found  relief  from  formidable  competitors  in 
industry  and  stock-jobbing  within  the  state,  had  dem- 
onstrated its  overreaching  power  to  an  extent  sufficient 
to  convince  most  political  leaders  in  all  parties,  and  was 
seeking  new  resources  for  exploitation  by  new  powers 
and  special  privileges  obtainable  only  through  new  laws 
in  Montana  and  through  immunity  from  honest  prose- 
cution for  lawlessness  by  the  administrative  and  execu- 
tive departments  of  government,  both  state  and  national. 
Your  "malefactor  of  great  wealth"  appreciates  the  verity 
in  the  rule  that  "eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty" 
for  habitual  criminals,  however  it  may  apply  to  good 
citizens.  Honest  men  in  office  and  publicity  of  their 
own  crooked  purposes  are  two  pet  aversions  of  self- 
respecting  managers  of  criminal  combines.  It  has  been 
shown  in  a  previous  chapter  how  they  safe-guarded 
themselves  against  one  of  these  dangers,  by  control  or 
direction  of  the  public  press  of  the  state.  Their  ample 
precautions  to  avoid  the  menace  of  honest  men  in  public 


134  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

office  will  be  told  of  now  with  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant facts  in  a  few  of  the  most  conspicuous  instances. 
It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  conditions  had  been 
obtained  in  Montana  wherefrom  it  was  evident  to  all 
intelligent  party  leaders  that  success  was  improbable,  if 
not  utterly  impossible,  for  any  ambitious  man  without 
the  consent,  if  not  the  support,  of  the  corporation  man- 
agement. At  the  same  time  public  prejudice  against 
corporate  influence  in  politics  was  one  of  Heinze's  assets 
which  he  could  not  transfer  with  his  other  properties 
when  he  sold  out  to  the  Amalgamated  company.  In 
general  terms,  party  platforms  promised  freedom  from 
these  influences  and  party  orators  declaimed  against  the 
dangers  of  them  in  the  event  of  victory  to  the  opposi- 
tion party.  To  still  this  prejudice,  as  well  as  to  avoid 
new  or  unnecessary  friction,  corporate  agencies  were 
shrewdly  employed  to  utilize  the  popularity  of  capable 
men  and  to  applaud  patriotism  and  public  spirit  when- 
ever it  could  be  exercised  without  injury  to  combine  in- 
terests or  obstruction  to  combine  plans.  It  was  the  un- 
written law  of  the  combine  code  that  "an  honest  man 
is  one  who  will  stay  bought",  and  that  treason  deserving 
punishment  consisted  solely  in  service  to  the  public  in- 
terests where  it  conflicted  with  service  to  the  combine 
interests.  During  the  years  of  the  Heinze-Amalgamated 
conflicts,  when  all  departments  of  government  were  so 
constantly  in  demand  and  so  much  employed,  almost 
every  man  in  public  position  was  of  necessity  on  one 
side  or  the  other,  more  or  less  conspicuously.  In  later 
years,  when  men  with  some  conscience  or  some  regard 
for  their  constituents  have  opposed  combine  plan  with 
official  vote  or  argument,  it  has  been  the  sport  of  the 
combine  lobbyists  and  organs  to  condemn  such  men  in 
public   opinion   by   recalling  their   past   services   to   the 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     135 

company  and  the  company  support  of  their  candidacies 
as  proof  that  they  were  unscrupulous  tools  of  these  in- 
terests and  indebted  to  the  combine  for  their  place  and 
power;  even  when  such  services  were  given  in  the  public 
interests  to  defeat  other  pirates  and  when  their  personal 
popularity  had  been  an  aid  to  the  corporate  managers 
in  efforts  to  better  their  own  reputations  in  public  opin- 
ion. There  have  been  other  cases,  frequent  enough  to 
afford  constant  example  to  aspiring  statesmen,  where 
refusal  to  serve  in  lawless  undertaking  has  been  pun- 
ished by  excommunication  with  the  combine  lobbyists 
and  by  the  awful  solemn  curse  of  "Johnny"  Morony's 
life-long  opposition  as  a  handicap  in  future  political 
races.  Under  these  circumstances,  within  the  environ- 
ment of  these  influences,  it  is  plain  enough  how  good 
men  could  have  been  defeated  with  ridicule  or  slander, 
and  how  corrupt  tools  of  the  special  interests  have 
served  their  masters  with  fidelity  while  beguiling  their 
constituents  with  profuse  promises  and  with  fine  phrases 
in  affected  devotion  to  right  principles  and  patriotic 
public  policies.  It  is  plain,  also,  why  men  of  good  public 
character  and  reputation  and  without  corrupt  purpose 
have  been  known  to  visit  Butte  to  learn  from  head- 
quarters if  their  candidacy  would  be  satisfactory  to  the 
combine  managers  prior  to  announcing  it  to  the  public. 
This  last  practice  explains  in  part  how  it  could  happen 
that  two  faithful  servants  of  the  interests  like  Governor 
Edwin  L.  Norris  and  State  Senator  Edward  Donlan 
were  permitted  to  oppose  each  other  for  the  same  office, 
with  campaign  funds  for  both  derived  from  combine 
sources,  and  Donlan  learned  too  late  that  his  chances 
for  success  had  been  disposed  of  in  a  swap  of  combine 
democratic  support  of  Taft  for  combine  republican  sup- 
port of  Norris,  all  without  loss  of  Donlan's  support  of 


136  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

combine  lawlessness  as  a  senate  leader  in  the  succeeding 
legislative  session.  By  this  result  the  corporation  man- 
agers served  another  purpose  in  continuing  the  system 
whereby  they  divided  the  public  patronage  between 
members  of  both  parties  and  maintained  in  both  party 
organizations  influential  agents  of  their  own,  at  the 
public  expense. 

Candidates  for  the  more  important  political  offices 
usually  are  selected  by  the  corporate  bosses  long  in  ad- 
vance of  convention  season,  and  the  public  is  coached 
into  acceptance  and  support  of  them  by  puffery  in  the 
press  and  with  adroit  campaigning  by  ubiquitous  lobby- 
ists. In  1904  the  fight  with  Heinze  was  still  in  progress. 
Amalgamated  influences  were  still  limited,  and  were 
concentrated  in  support  of  "satisfactory"  candidates  for 
the  bench  in  Silver  Bow  county,  of  Mr.  Chief  Justice 
Brantly  for  reelection  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  state, 
and  the  reelection  of  Governor  Toole,  who  had  deserted 
Heinze  to  serve  the  Amalgamated  Company  and  the 
public  together  in  the  preceding  year.  Even  in  that 
campaign  there  was  begun  the  system  of  discouraging 
honest  men,  and  honest  opposition  to  company  purposes, 
which  has  become  the  common  practice  of  more  recent 
times.  The  combine  representatives  in  the  Republican 
state  convention,  directed  by  L.  O.  Evans  of  the  com- 
pany "legal"  department,  made  strong  but  futile  en- 
deavor to  prevent  the  nomination  of  Mr.  William  Lind- 
say for  the  office  of  governor.  Mr.  Lindsay  was  an  early 
day  settler  in  eastern  Montana,  and  had  become  a  sheep- 
grower  on  an  extensive  scale.  He  acquired  prominence 
in  his  party  and  a  strong  hold  on  public  confidence  as  a 
legislator  by  mercilessly  flaying  his  fellow-partisans  who 
sold  their  votes  in  the  Clark-Daly  contest.  In  1902  he 
was  chairman  of  the  State  central  committee  of  his  party. 


HOW   OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     137 

That  he  was  the  popular  choice,  for  the  office  of  gov- 
ernor, within  the  party  two  years  later  was  demon- 
strated when  he  secured  the  nomination  in  the  conven- 
tion despite  the  opposition  of  the  corporate  interests. 
Notwithstanding  this  combine  opposition  in  convention, 
and  the  fact  that  it  was  followed  by  a  campaign  of  mis- 
representation and  ridicule  after  the  convention,  Mr. 
Lindsay  subordinated  his  ambition  to  his  integrity  and 
self-respect  and  rejected  proffers  of  support  from  the 
Heinze  forces  which  might  have  insured  his  election, 
and  which  were  conditioned  solely  upon  his  promise  to 
give  Heinze  preference  above  the  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany in  matters  which  concerned  the  corporations  more 
than  the  public,  he  insisting  that  he  would  make  no 
promise  to  abridge  his  freedom  as  an  official  to  determine 
every  action  on  the  merits  of  the  question  involved  when 
the  time  came  for  action.  Amalgamated  support  of  Mr. 
Roosevelt  that  year  was  designed  to  help  Amalgamated 
candidates  within  the  state.  By  reason  of  his  personal 
acquaintance  and  experience  as  a  ranchman,  as  well  as 
those  reasons  which  gave  him  strength  elsewhere,  Mr. 
Roosevelt  was  extremely  popular  throughout  Montana, 
while  his  antagonist  was  worse  than  weak.  There  were 
election  frauds  in  Butte  by  wholesale,  and  a  recount  of 
ballots  in  a  local  contest  in  Silver  Bow  county  showed 
that  great  numbers  of  ballots  had  been  marked  appar- 
ently by  one  person  with  one  pencil,  and  these  marked 
only  for  four  candidates,  of  the  many  on  the  great 
blanket  ticket,  in  whom  the  Amalgamated  combine  was 
chiefly  interested.  Without  these  ballots  the  fact  that 
the  company  supported  Roosevelt  the  republican,  for 
president,  and  Toole  the  democrat,  for  governor,  would 
easily  account  for  the  election  of  both  so  far  as  the  state 
of   Montana  was   concerned,   regardless   of  the   relative 


138  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

strength  or  weakness  of  the  defeated  candidates.  Four 
years  later  this  defeat  of  Mr.  Lindsay  was  revived  by 
Amalgamated  organs  as  an  evidence  of  his  weakness  as 
a  candidate.  Other  combine  agencies  brought  out  a 
number  of  convention  candidates  "satisfactory  to  the 
company",  and  Mr.  Lindsay,  with  practical  certainty  of 
the  nomination  if  he  would  stand  for  it,  declined  to  per- 
mit the  use  of  his  name.  Thus  the  combine  was  assured 
against  the  danger  of  an  honest  man  in  the  office  of  gov- 
ernor of  Montana  until  the  year  1913  at  least. 

The  experience  of  United  States  Senator  Joseph  M. 
Dixon  illustrates  the  active  ingratitude  for  services  per- 
formed to  themselves  and  active  resentment  of  services 
performed  for  the  public,  as  well  as  the  constant  fear  of 
honest  official  action,  in  the  minds  of  Amalgamated  man- 
agers. Mr.  Dixon  was  a  young  attorney  in  Missoula 
when  he  was  brought  into  the  maelstrom  of  Montana 
politics  as  a  member  of  the  legislature.  The  Heinze- 
Amalgamated  fight  was  on  and  his  influence  was  exerted 
against  Heinze  and  his  methods.  Dixon  was  clean  in 
professional  and  in  private  life,  and  this  fact  alone  might 
easily  have  determined  his  course  at  that  time.  In  1902 
he  was  elected  to  congress  and  reelected  in  1904.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  in  these  campaigns  he  was  supported 
by  Amalgamated  influences,  just  as  every  successful 
candidate  was  supported  who  was  opposed  by  Heinze 
or  opposed  to  Heinze,  nor  is  there  doubt  that  Mr.  Dixon 
rewarded  this  support  by  favoring  the  Amalgamated 
Company  as  against  Heinze  in  matters  in  which  both 
were  interested.  In  1907  Mr.  Dixon  was  elected  to  the 
senate,  making  his  campaign  for  the  office  the  year  pre- 
viously, and  surrendering  all  claim  to  consideration  as 
a  candidate  for  reelection  to  the  house.  In  1909  Mr. 
Dixon  became  interested  in  railway  rate  discriminations 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     139 

through  irrefutable  evidence  that  the  people  of  Montana 
were  being  grossly  overcharged  for  transportation  ser- 
vices, as  compared  with  charges  for  greater  services  to 
states  farther  west.  He  supported  vigorously  and  ef- 
fectively the  amendment  to  the  Interstate  Commerce 
law  prohibiting  higher  charges  for  a  short  than  for  a 
long  haul  over  the  same  line  in  the  same  direction,  a 
bit  of  legislation  which  has  proven  of  very  great  benefit 
to  the  people  of  Montana  in  meeting  competition  as  well 
as  in  saving  extortionate  freight  charges.  The  Wall 
Street  interests  which  operate  in  mining,  and  politics, 
and  other  leading  industries  of  Montana,  also  operate 
the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railway,  which 
runs  through  Montana,  as  well  as  other  important 
transportation  systems.  As  soon  as  the  managers  of 
these  interests  became  convinced  that  they  could  not 
operate  Mr.  Dixon  as  United  States  senator,  he  became 
"unsatisfactory"  to  Ryan,  and  Morony,  and  Kelly,  and 
Lanstrum,  and  Marlowe,  and  Durston,  and  all  other 
democrats,  near-democrats  and  ex-democrats,  together 
with  most  republicans  who  took  their  political  orders 
and  nourishment  from  the  copper  combine.  Persistent 
refusal  by  Dixon  to  serve  these  special  interests,  re- 
gardless of  the  rights  of  his  constituents,  was  followed 
by  loss  of  President  Taft's  confidence  in  Mr.  Dixon's 
judgment,  so  that  the  senator's  recommendations  relat- 
ing to  patronage  and  things  of  that  kind  came  to  be  re- 
jected or  unconsidered.  By  1910  Senator  Dixon  was  an 
insurgent  in  good  standing  among  the  insurgents  in  the 
United  States  senate,  and  in  bad  standing  with  the  rep- 
resentatives of  special  interests  in  that  body  and  in  Mon- 
tana. The  democratic  press  of  the  state,  subject  to  com- 
bine influence,  commenced  warfare  upon  Dixon  in  real 
seriousness.     The  republican  press  of  the  state,  subject 


140  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

to  the  same  influence,  commenced  to  ignore  or  misrep- 
resent him.  In  Missoula  Mr.  Dixon  owned  the  only- 
daily  paper,  and  when  he  became  progressive  the  policy 
of  the  paper  naturally  harmonized  with  his  arguments 
and  beliefs.  A  new  daily  paper  was  established  in  Mis- 
soula, at  great  expense,  and  a  former  editorial  employee 
of  Heinze  eventually  was  put  in  charge  to  discredit  Mr. 
Dixon  in  his  home  bailiwick.  After  Dixon  announced 
his  support  of  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Roosevelt  for  the 
presidency  in  1912,  and  was  chosen  by  Mr.  Roosevelt 
to  be  manager  of  his  campaign,  the  perfected  copper 
combine  bi-partisan  organization  was  enlisted  or  or- 
dered into  line  with  the  Taft  forces  in  Montana,  and  a 
delegation  favorable  to  Taft  was  sent  to  the  Chicago 
convention  in  June,  by  methods  with  which  Montana  has 
become  familiar  through  her  long  experience  with  rich 
men's  feuds,  copper  combine  wars,  and  corrupt  control 
of  the  state  by  and  for  special  interests.  The  declared 
purpose  of  the  combine  agents  in  this  combat,  as  appears 
by  sworn  testimony,  was  to  "get  Joe  Dixon".  The 
fight  which  has  been  conducted  from  ambush  for  more 
than  two  years  has  been  forced  into  the  open  by  Dixon 
and  his  friends.  Senator  Dixon's  whole  offense  consisted 
of  conspicuous  public  service  of  substantial  value  to 
every  state  in  the  union  with  incidental  loss  to  lawless 
combines  through  public  regulation  of  a  public  utility. 

The  fickle  fealty  of  combine  management  to  political 
parties  and  to  individual  helpers,  as  well  as  its  prompt 
punishment  of  the  most  trivial  insubordination  shown 
by  its  political  servants,  was  displayed  with  variations 
in  its  relations  to  the  late  Thomas  H.  Carter.  In  the 
early  years  of  the  state,  when  a  young  man,  Mr.  Carter 
as  leader  of  a  forlorn  hope  for  his  party  was  made  a 
member  of  congress   as   the   beneficiary  of  Mr.   Daly's 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     141 

antipathy  to  Mr.  Clark.  Mr.  Carter  was  a  prize  pupil 
in  the  school  of  party  machine  politics  and  became  a 
national  figure  in  the  republican  party  long  before  the 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company  was  conceived.  He  had 
filled  important  offices  in  the  national  party  organization 
and  served  a  term  in  the  United  States  senate.  He  com- 
bined, with  the  arts  of  a  consummate  politician,  much 
skill  as  a  popular  orator,  tireless  energy,  and  charms  of 
personality  and  good  fellowship  which  fascinated  friends 
and  dulled  enmities.  His  service  to  special  interests 
throughout  his  long  political  career  was  unmistakable 
and  substantial,  and  eventually  caused  the  loss  of  public 
confidence  which  brought  him  to  humiliating  defeat  by 
the  people  of  Montana  in  1910,  at  a  time  when  he  and 
the  corporate  interests  allied  in  support  of  him  appeared 
more  strongly  entrenched  than  ever  before  and  were  in 
command  of  practically  all  organized  power  in  the  state, 
corporate  or  political.  But  tor  almost  a  quarter  cen- 
tury Mr.  Carter  maintained  his  rank  as  the  most  adroit, 
resourceful  and  successful  politician  in  Montana,  where 
proficiency  in  the  game  was  a  common  talent.  In  the 
first  years  of  its  existence,  when  the  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany was  compelled  to  fight  for  the  mere  right  to  exist  in 
Montana,  the  able  politicians  exercised  the  rights  of  the 
boss.  Mr.  Carter  early  became  connected  with  Amal- 
gamated interests  and  services  were  mutual ;  but  action 
which  involved  serious  menace  to  party,  which  was  his 
source  of  strength,  sometimes  caused  him  to  pause  and 
avoid  or  evade  proceedings  sought  by  the  corporations. 
Party  lines  had  not  been  obliterated  at  that  time,  even 
in  the  corporate  organization,  and  bitterness  and  rival- 
ries born  of  factional  and  feudal  contests  were  alive  and 
active.  Mr.  Carter  knew  men  and  influences  in  the  state 
better  than  the  invaders  did,  and  his  cheerful  disposition, 


142  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

as  well  as  other  qualities,  made  political  suicide  repug- 
nant to  him.  He  could  be  convincingly  frank  and 
courageous  on  occasion,  as  when  he  was  credited  with 
having  refused  an  appointment  to  provide  for  a  non- 
descript politician,  who  had  influential  connections  and 
strong  endorsements,  for  the  given  reason  that  the  ap- 
plicant "when  he  is  drunk  is  irresponsible  and  when  he 
is  sober  is  a  blank  fool".  But  the  man,  whose  suave  man- 
ners and  subtle  ways  in  harmonizing  differences  earned 
him  distinction  as  "the  Bishop  of  the  flock"  of  stand- 
patters in  the  United  States  senate  in  insurgent  times, 
was  not  a  victim  to  blind  obedience  to  anybody's  orders. 
Not  until  long  after  it  happened,  the  Amalgamated  man- 
agement was  informed  that  the  refusal  of  the  legislature 
to  impeach  a  Heinze  judge  was  attributable  to  the  de- 
cision of  a  secret  conference  between  Mr.  Carter  and 
other  republican  leaders,  reached  in  careful  considera- 
tion of  party  interests.  In  consequence,  envious,  covet- 
ous and  ambitious  employees  of  the  corporation  were 
heard  in  New  York,  and  Mr.  Carter  soon  learned  that 
consideration  of  combine  interests  had  determined  that 
he  would  best  serve  in  private  life.  For  obvious  reasons 
he  had  become  a  conspicuous  object  of  attack  for  the 
Heinze  people.  To  his  political  abilities,  the  fidelity  of 
influential  individual  friends,  and  the  fears,  rather  than 
the  support,  of  all  the  corporate  copper  operators,  Mr. 
Carter  was  indebted  for  his  return  to  the  United  States 
senate  in  1905.  Amalgamated  influences  were  exerted 
in  opposition  through  conspiracy,  and  with  an  alleged  in- 
dependent organization  of  a  few  republican  legislators 
led  by  O.  M.  Lanstrum,  but  these  were  offset  and  finally 
whipped  into  line  with  the  certainty  that  the  Heinze 
contingent  of  legislators  from  Silver  Bow  county,  elected 
as  "anti-trust"  representatives,  would  give  Carter  their 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     143 

votes  and  his  victory  on  a  given  date.  The  combine 
forces  were  backed  up  and  the  combine  lobbyists  were 
sent  to  share  in  Carter's  hospitality  and  to  congratulate 
him  upon  his  victory.  The  following  three  years  an 
armed  neutrality  was  maintained  between  Senator 
Carter  and  the  copper  combine  managers  in  Montana, 
with  understanding  on  both  sides  that  Mr.  Carter  had 
some  punishment  coming  as  soon  as  the  combine  man- 
agers could  find  ability  and  opportunity  to  inflict  it. 

In  1907  Mr.  Carter  discussed  with  some  of  his  friends 
the  advisability,  as  well  as  the  apparent  necessity,  of 
making  an  open  fight  against  the  corporate  organization 
with  a  direct  appeal  to  the  people.  With  the  elimination 
of  Heinze  and  the  extending  interests  and  powers  of 
the  combine  as  object  lessons,  and  possibly  influenced 
somewhat  by  appreciation  of  the  probability  of  loss  of 
support  from  railway  and  other  corporate  influence  in 
such  a  contest,  he  hesitated.  Finally  he  chose  the  more 
familiar  and  easier  compromise  route  to  success.  Within 
a  year  his  friendly  relations  with  the  eastern  end  of  the 
copper  combine  were  re-established,  and  by  his  interfer- 
ence, through  the  legal  department  of  the  government  at 
Washington,  with  litigation  against  the  copper  combine 
in  Montana,  he  performed  such  service  to  those  inter- 
ests that  the  underlords  in  Montana  were  impelled  if  not 
compelled  to  become  his  zealous  friends  and  supporters 
regardless  of  past  differences  or  party  affiliations.  In 
the  senate  he  had  become  the  right-hand  man  of  Aldrich 
and  a  trusted  representative  of  President  Taft.  The 
power  of  patronage,  from  government  and  corporation 
alike  in  Montana,  were  subject  to  his  command.  Press 
bureaus  in  Washington  provided  lavish  praise  of  his 
public  services  and  official  renown  to  the  combine  press 
in    Montana.      When    the    political    campaign    of    1910 


144  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

opened  formally,  conventions  of  both  parties  were  ma- 
nipulated in  his  interest  with  the  aid  of  combine  influ- 
ence. Some  independent  candidacies  were  created  where 
deemed  to  his  advantage.  He  had  determined  two  years 
before  to  appeal  to  the  combine  rather  than  the  public. 
He  had  obtained  everything  available  which  he  went 
after.  All  the  bosses,  all  the  organs,  all  the  big  corpor- 
ations, all  the  beneficiaries  of  or  seekers  for  patronage 
who  trusted  to  power  were  for  him.  His  support  was 
too  strong,  his  policy  too  plain,  his  corporate  henchmen 
too  zealous,  his  indifference  towards  the  people  too 
obvious.  This  one  indifference  in  so  much  distinguished 
consideration  became  conspicuous.  It  was  realized  and 
rebuked  at  the  polls. 

In  all  the  campaigns  of  Montana  history  there  never 
before  was  such  glaring  use  and  abuse  of  corporate 
power  in  the  selection  and  election  of  candidates  as  was 
exercised  in  the  contest  of  1910.  Combine  control  of  po- 
litical agencies  and  influences  appeared  complete.  New 
legislation  secured  in  1909  had  given  the  interests  new 
corporate  powers  and  new  influences.  Some  of  the 
managers  were  intoxicated  by  success,  and  some  by  ex- 
cess with  more  plebeian  stimulant.  Beyond  the  desire 
to  re-elect  Carter  there  was  incentive  for  activity  in  op- 
portunity to  defeat  a  rival,  with  preeminent  ability  and 
qualifications,  who  had  not  only  retained  but  exhibited 
independence  of  combine  influence.  Mr.  T.  J.  Walsh  of 
Helena,  despite  corporate  opposition,  had  attained  lead- 
ership in  the  democratic  party  organization  and  had 
developed  such  popular  strength  as  to  make  him  the 
strongest  candidate  against  Carter  for  a  seat  in  the  sen- 
ate. He  was  not  only  a  progressive  democrat  in  advo- 
cacy of  principles  and  policies,  but  an  aggressive  advo- 
cate in  court  who  had  refused  an  annual  retainer  from 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     145 

the  copper  combine  and  successfully  prosecuted  actions 
for  individuals  against  corporations.  The  work  of  se- 
lecting legislative  candidates  in  republican  counties  who 
would  be  for  Carter  and  the  combine,  and  of  choosing 
democratic  candidates  in  democratic  counties  who  would 
be  for  the  combine  and  against  Walsh,  with  subsequent 
efforts  to  elect  republican  legislators  from  democratic 
counties  and  Carter  legislators  from  republican  counties, 
involved  a  task  not  too  intricate  for  the  political  mind 
of  the  corporate  organization  with  the  managerial  abil- 
ities of  Managing  Director  Morony.  Incident  to  this, 
there  was  the  amusing  diversion  of  vindicating  corpor- 
ate power  and  feeding  the  Morony  grudge  by  attempting 
defeat  of  a  number  of  legislative  candidates  who  had  in- 
curred the  supreme  wrath  in  Montana  by  foolhardy  op- 
position to  legislation  wanted  by  Ryan  and  Morony  from 
the  last  legislature.  There  were  some  unforeseen  con- 
tingencies and  partial  failure.  But  it  is  due  to  Mr. 
Morony  and  the  interests  which  he  represented  to  note 
that  no  results  were  attributable  to  neglect  of  the  com- 
bine interests  in  efforts  to  select  and  elect  all  the  public 
servants  necessary  to  the  enterprise  undertaken. 

In  Deer  Lodge  county,  which  under  normal  condi- 
tions would  be  strongly  democratic,  a  solid  delegation 
of  seven  lawmakers,  representing  a  total  population  of 
12,988  people  by  the  census  of  that  year,  was  elected  on 
the  republican  ticket  to  vote,  as  they  did,  for  Mr.  Carter. 
Here  was  a  county  wherein  almost  everybody  is  depend- 
ent upon  combine  employment  for  existence,  and  where 
the  boss  power  is  not  only  absolute  but  mercilessly  ex- 
erted. In  this  campaign  prominent  democrats  employed 
by  the  company,  like  Mr.  Martin  Martin,  secretary  to 
General  Manager  Mathewson,  worked  openly  and  faith- 
fully for  the  republican  aspirants.     It  must  be  admitted 


146  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

that,  by  the  power  of  dishonest  representation  and  legis- 
lative apportionment,  here  was  a  fine  start  for  Mr. 
Carter,  made  by  Mr.  Morony,  as  compared  with  one 
vote  lost  to  Mr.  Carter  through  the  revolt  of  the  people 
of  the  agricultural  county  of  Yellowstone,  ordinarily 
overwhelmingly  republican,  and  where  a  population  of 
22,944  people  had  a  representation  of  only  one  senator 
and  one  representative  under  the  legislative  apportion- 
ment then  in  force.  The  combine  forces  scored  again 
when  Jefferson  county,  with  a  population  of  5,601 
people  in  1910,  and  with  a  customarily  safe  democratic 
majority,  was  able  to  send  three  out  of  a  possible  four 
of  its  representation  to  support  Carter,  as  an  offset  to 
the  slump  in  the  banner  republican  "cow  county"  of  the 
state,  Dawson,  which  had  a  population  of  12,725  and  was 
able  to  rebuke  Carter  with  only  one  vote  lost  by  elect-, 
ing  a  democrat  as  its  sole  house  representative  under  the 
unequal  apportionment.  There  was  combine  triumph  in 
double  measure  at  Butte,  which  is  practically  all  of  Silver 
Bow  county.  The  county  has  twelve  representatives  and 
one  senator,  and  a  normal  republican  vote  in  general 
elections  of  from  3,000  to  5,000  out  of  a  possible  12,000. 
Here  the  combine  managed  to  elect  one  republican  rep- 
resentative for  Carter,  together  with  that  half-dozen 
servile  tools  or  employees  of  the  Amalgamated  Company, 
as  democrats,  who  furnished  the  vote  in  a  democratic 
legislature  to  create  a  dead-lock  and  prevent  the  election 
of  Mr.  Walsh.  In  Cascade  county,  where  the  combine 
interests  own  smelters,  and  water  power  plants,  and 
townsite  company,  and  hotel  and  banking  business,  there 
also  was  comfort  for  the  combine  managers  in  repub- 
lican gains. 

With  holdover  senators.  Carter  republicans  and  cor- 
poration democrats,  Wall  Street  directors  retained  con- 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     147 

trol  of  the  Montana  legislature  and  defeated  Mr.  Walsh. 
The  citizens  of  Montana  defeated  Mr.  Carter  and  gained 
new  confidence  in  the  power  of  the  ballot.  The  attempt 
to  discipline  men  for  political  independence  in  official 
action  was  vigorous  but  not  successful.  In  Madison 
county  Mr.  M.  M.  Duncan,  who,  as  a  representative  in 
1909,  refused  the  request  of  Lobbyist  Fred  Whitesides 
to  introduce  a  bill  for  an  act  increasing  corporate  powers 
in  the  state,  for  the  given  reason  that  the  scheme  was 
"too  dirty",  notwithstanding  assurance  that  "Ryan  and 
Morony  want  it,"  became  a  candidate  for  the  state  sen- 
ate. Mr.  Morony  visited  Madison  county  in  person  to 
issue  his  ukase  against  the  election  of  Duncan,  but 
Duncan  was  elected. 

In  Carbon  county,  where  the  combine  has  important 
coal  mining  interests,  Mr.  W.  F.  Meyer  was  a  member 
of  the  state  senate.  In  the  Heinze-Amalgamated  con- 
flicts, Mr.  Myer  had  been  an  efficient  supporter  of  the 
Amalgamated  Company,  like  the  majority  of  republi- 
cans at  that  time.  In  the  session  of  1909  he  talked  and 
voted  in  the  senate  against  the  dangers  in  the  bill  in- 
creasing the  rights  and  powers  of  the  Amalgamated  cor- 
porations within  the  state.  In  return  Mr.  Morony,  at  a 
Helena  hotel,  gave  assurance  to  Mr.  Meyer  that  he 
would  camp  on  Meyer's  political  trail  as  long  as  he  lived. 
In  the  campaign  of  1910,  Senator  Meyer  devoted  much 
of  his  time  to  support  of  the  candidacy  in  Carbon  county 
of  Mr.  John  N.  Tolman,  a  progressive  and  avowed  anti- 
Carter  republican.  Mr.  Tolman  was  elected,  defeating 
for  re-election  Representative  Pierson,  an  attorney  for 
the  combine  interests  in  Carbon  county  and  a  cheerful 
supporter  of  combine  measures  and  methods  in  the  leg- 
islature. Senator  Meyer  and  Representative  Tolman 
were  able,  with  the  co-operation  of  a  few  other  republi- 


148  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

cans,  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  the  election  of  Carter 
with  the  votes  of  the  Amalgamated  "democrats"  from 
Silver  Bow  county — a  plan  of  action  so  much  discussed 
and  known  that  it  was  predicted  in  press  dispatches  sent 
from  Butte  and  printed  in  metropolitan  papers  in  Wash- 
ington and  elsewhere  early  in  the  legislative  session. 
Doubtless  the  corporation  interests  might  have  procured 
such  a  result  but  for  the  certainty  that  republicans  like 
Mr.  Meyer  would  not  tolerate  it  and  that  the  majority 
of  the  democrats  would  send  protest  to  Washington 
likely  to  furnish  a  repetition  of  the  Lorimer  case,  at  that 
time  in  full  light  of  first  public  exposure.  In  Fergus 
county,  reliably  republican  as  a  rule,  the  anti-Carter- 
combine  sentiment  became  so  evident  in  the  campaign 
that  word  was  sent  from  combine  headquarters  that  Mr. 
Thomas  Stout,  a  democratic  candidate  for  the  senate  and 
a  Walsh  man,  must  be  defeated.  An  edict  was  issued 
to  employees  of  the  "Milwaukee"  railway  company  to 
promote  the  end  desired.  Mr.  Stout  was  elected  by  a 
handsome  majority  after  an  open  fight  against  the  bosses. 
With  him  went  another  vote  against  Carter  from  this 
republican  agricultural  county  in  the  election  of  one 
democratic  representative  to  the  house. 

When  the  legislature  met  in  1911  and  a  vote  for  sen- 
ator was  taken  Mr.  Walsh  had  a  clear  majority  of  the 
votes  of  the  majority  party  on  joint  ballot.  He  was  de- 
feated because  a  dead-lock  was  created  by  the  refusal 
of  ten  democrats  to  sign  the  call  for  a  party  caucus  or  an 
agreement  to  be  governed  by  its  actions.  On  party  lines 
the  legislative  forces  were  divided  with  53  democrats 
and  49  republicans  on  joint  ballot.  Of  the  democrats 
who  refused  to  sign  the  caucus  call,  eight  were  from 
Silver  Bow  county  and  all  were  mere  servants  of  the 
combine   interests.     Representative   Roy   S.   Alley,   sec- 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     149 

retary  and  confidential  man  for  President  John  D.  Ryan 
was  one,  and  another  was  Senator  Harry  Gallwey,  for 
years  a  mine  manager  for  the  company  and  a  trusted 
political  lobbyist  at  Helena  before  he  was  elected  to  the 
senate.  The  dead-lock  was  prolonged  till  late  in  the  last 
day  of  the  session,  with  apparent  purpose  either  to  create 
a  situation  whereby  Mr.  Carter  could  be  "put  across" 
or  to  compel  adjournment  without  election  and  postpone 
action  till  the  campaign  of  1912  when  republicans  would 
be  compelled  to  sacrifice  Senator  Dixon  as  well  as  Sen- 
ator Carter  by  returning  a  democratic  legislature.  The 
Walsh  forces  met  the  claim  of  combine  agents  that  they 
were  opposed  only  to  Walsh  by  voting  for  a  number  of 
prominent  democrats  during  the  joint  session  on  the  last 
day.  The  responsibility  as  well  as  the  odium  for  the 
deadlock  situation  was  thus  brought  so  directly  to  the 
corporation  managers  that  they  sought  and  found  re- 
lief in  breaking  the  deadlock  by  supporting  Henry  L. 
Meyers  when  his  name  was  presented  by  the  Walsh 
people.  Meyers  had  been  a  Daly  man  in  the  feudal  times 
and  joined  with  Whitesides  in  the  sensational  exposure 
of  the  Clark  campaign,  where  $30,000  was  handed  up  to 
the  speaker's  desk  as  the  alleged  price  of  three  votes. 
Myers  had  for  several  years  been  a  district  judge  in 
Ravalli  county,  and  had  become  so  wholly  forgotten  in 
political  events  that  J.  L.  Dobell,  editor  of  Mr.  Clark's 
Butte  Miner,  voted  for  him  with  the  others  in  ignorance 
of  his  real  identity.  Following  this  result,  combine  pub- 
licity agents  endeavored  to  make  it  appear  that  it  was 
an  Amalgamated  victory,  and  even  that  it  had  been  pre- 
arranged. The  truth  was  that  the  action  of  the  dead- 
lock makers  was  taken  to  save  the  political  faces  of  the 
combine-Carter  forces,  and  incidentally  to  embarrass 
Dixon  two  years  later  by  the  presence  of  a  United  States 


150  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

senator  in  a  county  adjoining  his  own.  Another  truth 
was  that  in  Mr.  Myers  the  combine  had  "caught  a  tar- 
tar". Corporation  agents  arranged  an  elaborate  banquet 
for  Senator  Myers,  with  the  enthusiastic  aid  of  his  de- 
lighted neighbors  and  friends  at  home.  John  H.  Durston 
of  The  Anaconda  Standard  was  made  toastmaster,  and 
Senator  Gallwey,  Speaker  McDowell,  and  other  con- 
spicuous combine  representatives  were  given  prominent 
part  in  the  oratory.  Shortly  before  Senator  Myers  was 
about  to  depart  for  Washington  it  became  reported  that 
Managing  Director  Morony  had  made  appointment  to 
meet  Mr.  Myers  in  Hamilton.  Morony  did  go  to  Hamil- 
ton, and  he  met  Mr.  Myers.  He  met  him  in  the  lobby  of 
the  hotel,  talked  to  him  casually  on  subjects  of  no  im- 
portance and  left  town,  the  entire  proceedings  apparent- 
ly being  taken  to  enlarge  the  grounds  for  claim  that 
Myers  was  in  harmony  with  combine  plans  and  interests 
and  that  in  his  election  there  had  been  a  combine  vic- 
tory. Mr.  Myers  had  been  a  long-time  friend  of  Mr. 
Walsh,  had  supported  his  candidacy,  and  the  represen- 
tatives from  his  section  of  the  state  had  given  unswerv- 
ing support  to  Mr.  Walsh  until  released  by  him.  If 
Mr.  Morony  and  his  associates  planned  and  played  the 
election  of  Myers  to  fool  the  public,  they  were  the  most 
skillful  actors  of  any  age,  because  they  deceived  Mr. 
Myers  with  everybody  else.  He  was  the  most  sur- 
prised man  in  the  state  of  Montana  when  his  unantici- 
pated election  was  announced.  His  post-election  exper- 
ience, apart  from  what  interest  its  novelty  may  produce, 
is  presented  as  evidence  that  corporation  domination  of 
Montana  politics  in  1911  had  reached  that  point  in  per- 
fection where  an  apparent  defeat  of  corporate  plans 
could  be  claimed  as  a  corporate  victory  and  the  public 
be  kept  in  doubt  in  respect  to  the  truth ;  regardless  of  a 


HOW    OFFICIALS    ARE    CHOSEN    AND    CONFIRMED     151 

long,  honorable  record  and  the  positive  assurances  of  the 
most  competent  witness  on  earth  that  Mr.  Myers  was 
and  would  continue  to  be  a  representative  of  the  people 
of  the  state  and  not  of  any  special  interests. 


The  Selection  of  Judges  and  the 
Direction  of  Courts 

PART   I. 

Oh  that  I  dared 
To  basket  up  the  family  of  plagues 
That  waste  our  vitals;   peculation,  sale 
Of  honour,  perjury,  corruption,  frauds 
By  forgery,  by  subterfuge  of  law, 
By  tricks  and  lies — 

Then  cast  them,  closely  bundled,  every  brat 
At  the  right  door! 

— William  Cowper. 

The  state  of  Montana  has  as  complete  and  admirable 
a  system  of  courts  as  any  state  has  devised.  It  was 
provided  for  in  the  organic  law  of  the  state  and  per- 
fected by  subsequent  legislation  and  public  generosity. 
The  people  of  Montana  have  great  respect  for  courts. 
In  almost  every  county  the  finest  and  most  costly  struc- 
ture is  the  home  of  the  courts.  The  judicial  branch  of 
government,  with  its  various  officers  and  incidental  ex- 
penses, costs  the  taxpayers  more  than  any  other.  In 
its  comparatively  brief  existence  this  young  state  has  de- 
veloped a  considerable  number  of  capable  and  upright 
judges,  many  eminently  able  advocates  at  the  bar,  and 
a  few  honest  lawyers.  Among  the  numerous  excellent 
provisions  of  the  constitution  of  this  state  there  is  one 
which  declares:  "Courts  of  justice  shall  be  open  to  every 
person,  and  a  speedy  remedy  afforded  for  every  injury 
of   person,   property   or   character;   and   that   right   and 

[153] 


154«  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

justice  shall  be  administered  without  sale,  denial  or  de- 
lay." In  Montana,  upon  occasion,  may  be  heard  that 
familiar  phrasing  of  words  expressive  of  noble  senti- 
ment, "For  Justice  all  place  a  temple,  and  all  season 
summer." 

Unhappily,  for  people  in  need  of  Justice,  there  have 
been  long  periods  of  time  in  Montana  when  ignorance 
of  the  constitution,  unscrupulous  lawyers,  fear  of  Jus- 
tice, ignoble  or  avaricious  sentiment,  and  shameless 
criminals,  have  had  place  on  the  bench  in  both  high  and 
low  courts — safeguarding  lawlessness  instead  of  admin- 
istering law. 

Happily,  some  of  the  more  contemptible  of  the  influ- 
ences degrading  justice  in  public  opinion  have  been  re- 
moved, and  self-respect  of  citizens  is  compelling  a  better 
respect  for  courts  among  judges  and  court  officers.  It 
is  no  longer  possible,  even  in  Butte,  to  see  a  district 
judge  loaded  into  a  vehicle,  like  a  sack  of  malt,  from  the 
front  door  of  a  grog  shop,  to  be  conveyed  to  his  seat  on 
the  bench  for  the  purpose  of  handing  down  ready-made 
judgments  as  products  of  his  own  maudlin  mind;  a  spec- 
tacle witnessed  less  than  ten  years  ago  in  the  metropolis 
of  Montana.  The  laws  have  been  changed  so  that  judges 
are  not  only  relieved  from  obligations  to  party  influ- 
ences for  nominations  or  elections,  but  the  names  of  all 
judicial  candidates  are  placed  together  in  a  column  re- 
served for  them  on  the  official  ballot,  as  non-partisan 
candidates,  and  the  name  of  no  candidate  for  any  ju- 
dicial office  is  allowed  to  appear  elsewhere  on  the  ballot. 
This  change  further  has  relieved  people  who  do  re- 
spect the  courts,  by  putting  an  end  to  the  practices  of 
former  campaigns  wherein  some  candidates  for  the  su- 
preme court  of  the  state  have  sought  votes  as  stump 
speakers,  with  partisan  harangues  or  with  funny  stories 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  155 

more  becoming  to  the  bar  room  than  the  bench.  Such 
faults  were  too  conspicuous  and  too  grievous  to  endure 
against  decent  public  sentiment  and  the  disgust  of  jurists 
and  practitioners  with  reputation  to  protect  or  pride  of 
profession  to  maintain. 

Many  chapters  might  be  written  with  authenticated 
facts  about  disgraceful  practices  by  bench  and  bar,  and 
of  frequent  miscarriage  of  justice  through  lawless  pro- 
cedure by  men  sworn  and  bound  by  every  obligation  of 
honorable  manhood  to  regard  and  enforce  the  law ;  all 
outgrowth  of  the  fierce  conflicts  and  rivalries  during  the 
first  dozen  years  of  statehood.  Most  of  these  already 
are  of  record  available  for  any  useful  purpose  which  they 
can  be  made  to  serve,  and  may  well  be  left  to  oblivion  as 
irrelevant  to  this  history.  While  wholesome  public 
sentiment  and  reputable  practitioners  have  accomplished 
much  for  the  betterment  of  judicial  character  and  judi- 
cial freedom,  new  lawless  enterprise,  with  sinister  de- 
sign and  subtle  method,  has  ventured  in  behalf  of  big 
business  to  deprive  the  citizen  of  his  last  defense  by 
polluting  the  sources  of  justice.  Montana  has  no 
monopoly  of  this  misfortune.  Court  reports  and  current 
news  of  events  in  political  and  legal  practice  for  many 
years — not  to  mention  notorious  decisions  and  impeach- 
ment proceedings  of  quite  recent  times — demonstrate 
that  no  states  and  few  courts  are  wholly  free  from  it. 
In  this,  as  in  other  features  of  misrule,  the  Treasure 
State  is  made  notable  through  subjection  by  one  corpor- 
ate combine.  The  facts  and  experiences  and  proceed- 
ings told  of  in  this  chapter  are  submitted  in  evidence 
that — above  specific  provisions  of  state  and  national  con- 
stitutions, and  of  state  and  national  statutes,  preroga- 
tives of  presidents  and  governors,  popular  sovereignty 
and  suffrage,  the  rights  of  citizens  in  life  and  property — 


156  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

the  dominant  power  and  influence  in  the  selection  of 
judges  and  in  the  direction  of  courts  is  vested  in  the 
organized  influences  and  activities  of  the  Amalgamated 
Copper  Company  and  its  kindred  organizations. 

It  has  been  told  in  preceding  pages  how  the  copper 
combine  conquered  Heinze  by  securing  new  laws  to 
regulate  and  limit  the  jurisdiction  of  district  judges,  and 
how  it  defeated  judges  controlled  by  Heinze  with  ju- 
dicial candidates  nominated  and  elected  by  its  own  in- 
fluences. Conceding  that  these  changes  were  necessary, 
and  supported  by  good  citizens  as  well  as  by  corrupt 
agencies  and  influences,  to  cure  intolerable  evils,  the  pre- 
cedent, like  many  another  precedent  in  pursuit  of  jus- 
tice, has  been  followed  under  different  circumstances 
and  conditions  to  defeat  justice.  Mr.  William  Scallon 
was  not  the  only  counselor  at  law  with  recognized  abil- 
ities and  good  character  who  has  been  impelled  to  leave 
the  state  or  retire  from  practice  as  a  result  of  monopliza- 
tion  of  business  in  and  out  of  court  by  combine  interests. 
It  would  be  slight,  if  any,  exaggeration  to  say  that  at  the 
present  time  there  are  few  attorneys  of  first  rank  in  any 
of  the  principal  cities  of  Montana  who  are  not  under 
obligations  for  employment  by  the  Amalgamated  Com- 
pany or  its  allied  organizations.  Conspicuous  among  the 
most  distinguished  of  the  profession  who  retired  from  it 
or  left  the  state  was  Mr.  John  F.  Forbis,  who  did  both. 
Throughout  all  the  years  and  all  the  conflicts  of  individ- 
uals, of  factions,  and  of  corporations,  which  disgraced  so 
many  men  and  taught  so  many  more  dishonest  trade,  Mr. 
Forbis  practiced  his  profession  and  played  his  part  in 
public  affairs — even  many  years  as  one  of  the  chief 
members  of  the  Amalgamated  Company's  legal  depart- 
ment— and  maintained  a  reputation  for  personal  and 
professional  integrity  above  so  much  as  hint  or  suspicion 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  157 

from  unscrupulous  opponents.  His  name  was  synonym 
for  honesty  in  public  estimation.  When  he  left  Butte 
early  in  the  year  1910,  a  farewell  banquet  was  given  in  his 
honor  which  was  attended  by  representatives  of  all 
parties,  factions  and  interests.  His  address  on  that  oc- 
casion, which  reflected  his  long  and  varied  experience 
in  his  profession,  was  a  good-natured  but  pitiless  arraign- 
ment of  the  practice  of  law  in  this  country.  Some  brief 
quotations  are  presented  here  as  pertinent  descriptions, 
from  qualified  authority,  of  conditions  in  legal  practice 
which  make  possible  and  promote  the  still  worse  condi- 
tions secured  by  special  interests  which  are  described 
later.     In  the  course  of  his  address  Mr.  Forbis  said : 

"Under  the  case  constructions  of  the  constitution, 
what  was  intended  as  a  castle  of  defense  has  become  a 
prison.  The  hordes  of  greed,  oppression  and  selfishness 
have  laid  siege  to  the  structure  which  was  intended  to 
exclude  them,  and  now  the  people  find  themselves  so 
beleaguered  within  their  own  fortress  that  no  excursions 
are  permissible  beyond  its  narrow  confines.  What  was 
intended  as  protection  has  become  a  limitation." 

"There  is  probably  not  more  than  one  man  in  his 
generation  capable  of  writing  upon  the  law,  and  yet  by 
the  legal  system  it  is  assumed  that  every  man  called  to 
a  judicial  position  is  a  Daniel  come  to  judgment.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  the  law  grows  narrower,  more  technical, 
and  less  humane?  But  I  hear  some  brother  ask,  How 
are  judges  to  be  restrained  and  made  to  do  by  one  as 
they  have  done  or  would  do  by  another?  I  answer  you 
that  judges  are  too  much  restrained.  In  our  efforts  to 
bind  the  judges,  we  have  bound  the  principles  they  rep- 
resent. We  have  taken  from  the  judges  so  completely 
all  moral  obligation  and  responsibility  that  no  one  knows 
when  they  are  acting  conscientiously.     A  judge  can  find 


158  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

in  the  cases  authority  for  any  action  he  may  feel  like 
taking,  and  though  he  may  be  wrong — palpably  wrong — 
he  yet  can  say  'Thus  did  I  read  and  construe  the  law'. 
And  we  all  know  that  this  is  a  perfect  answer,  for  law- 
yers themselves  cannot  agree  as  to  the  law." 

"Bring  the  judges  nearer  to  the  people,  so  that  every- 
one may  see  them  and  judge  them;  so  that  they  will 
not  be  hidden  behind  a  pseudo-science  which  no  one  un- 
derstands, and  then  make  them  responsible  for  their  acts, 
as  other  officials  are.  Under  such  conditions  judges 
would  be  careful  to  judge  correctly,  lest  they  themselves 
be  judged." 

"Burn  the  reports,  every  one  of  them,  and  let  there 
be  no  more  legal  reports  forever.  What  are  they  but  the 
opinions  of  10,000  minds;  many  small;  many  technical; 
many  ignorant;  many  prejudiced;  a  few  corrupt,  and  a 
few,  a  very  few,  great.  What  a  waste — of  paper.  And 
when  they  shall  be  burned,  by  the  great  light  of  the  con- 
flagration, have  broad  minds  study  the  principles  of  the 
law  and  write  so  much  of  them  as  may  be  thought  neces- 
sary, indelibly  and  plainly,  upon  the  statutes,  so  that 
he  who  runs  may  read,  and  forever  after  make  it  unlaw- 
ful for  any  judge  to  write  for  record  an  authoritative 
opinion  construing  the  law  in  any  particular  case.  Let 
there  be  commentaries  upon  the  law  then  as  now,  but 
let  them  be  only  the  individual  opinion  of  the  author — 
effective  only  so  far  as  persuasive.  Let  there  be  no  au- 
thority binding  upon  the  courts  save  the  one  supreme 
law  as  written  and  the  other  the  unwritten  and  unde- 
finable  law  of  right." 

"What  litigants,  especially  honest  litigants,  want  is 
an  honest  man  of  brain  and  blood  and  heart  upon  the 
bench.  He  should  be  human  like  themselves,  a  man  who 
knows    what   justice    is    without    having   to   borrow   the 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  159 

knowledge.  Such  men  are  numerous  in  every  commu- 
nity, and  this  kind  of  a  man  would  be  just  as  ideal  upon 
the  bench  as  in  the  common  walks  of  life.  We  all  know 
men  with  whom  we  would  entrust  our  property  or  our 
lives.  Think  you  such  men  would  betray  a  judicial 
trust?  Is  there  any  question  of  honest  dispute  which 
you  would  not  submit  to  a  man  of  this  kind  off  the 
bench?  Think  you  his  heart  or  intellect  would  be  per- 
verted through  judicial  office?  How  refreshing  it  would 
be  to  draw  from  such  a  source  a  real  human,  natural 
judgment.  It  might  not  be  different  from  what  we  get 
nowadays,  but  it  would  have  the  freshness  of  natural 
bubbling  springs,  and  not  the  suspicion  of  stagnancy 
that  comes  from  artificial  reservoirs." 

Mr.  Forbis  talked  of  the  faults  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  and  rightly  exonerated  judges  and  others  who 
were  victims  of  a  system.  And  he  pleasantly  anticipated 
that  his  suggested  remedies,  if  given  a  passing  thought 
a  day  later,  would  "be  like  the  memory  of  a  troubled 
dream." 

While  it  is  more  difficult  for  the  combine  interests 
to  select  judges  and  to  elect  them  when  they  are  nomin- 
ated by  petition  and  obliged  to  appear  apart  from  parti- 
san nominees  on  the  election  ballot,  it  is  not  quite  im- 
possible to  achieve  such  a  result.  In  a  multitude  of  at- 
torneys it  is  easy  to  find  men  who  can  be  persuaded  to 
become  candidates  for  the  bench ;  and,  if  a  corporation 
which  has  an  abundance  of  employment  for  attorneys 
off  as  well  as  on  the  bench  does  the  persuading,  it  is  not 
more  difficult.  In  this  way  the  geographical  argument 
and  the  locality  influences  can  be  combined  with  the 
personal  strength  of  individual  candidates  to  divide  the 
popular  vote.  The  combine  support  can  be  concentrated 
in  the  interest  of  the  combine's  favorite  candidate.    The 


160  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

combine-ruled  public  press  can  assist  greatly  in  confus- 
ing the  public  mind  and  concealing  the  combine  purpose 
— and  the  result  is  as  you  see  it.  The  political  machinery 
and  organization  and  influence  which  can  regularly  give 
majorities  to  republican  candidates  for  president,  elect 
democratic  candidates  for  governor,  and  maintain  com- 
bine control  of  both  branches  of  every  legislature  re- 
gardless of  the  political  affiliations  of  the  majority  of  the 
membership,  while  keeping  the  voters  quite  evenly  di 
vided  by  party  lines  and  intently  interested  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  alleged  party  questions  which  have  no  con- 
nection with  or  influence  upon  affairs  in  Montana — such 
powers  cannot  be  made  impotent  for  combine  uses  in 
judicial  campaigns  by  a  mere  changing  of  the  rules  of 
the  game  to  deprive  candidates  of  partisan  nominations, 
and  by  a  rearrangement  of  their  names  on  the  election 
ballot.  To  show  that  the  combine  managers  or  agents 
can  select  the  successful  candidates  for  judicial  positions 
does  not  show  that  they  do  it.  Judicial  decisions  almost 
uniformly  favorable  to  combine  policies  and  purposes 
and  interests  and  lawnessness  do  not  show  it ;  because, 
quoting  again  the  trustworthy  attorney  for  the  corpora- 
tion, "We  have  taken  from  the  judges  so  completely  all 
moral  obligation  and  responsibility  that  no  one  knows 
when  they  are  acting  conscientiously",  and  the  judge 
with  authority  of  precedent  for  any  action  may  be 
"palpably  wrong"  and  yet  can  say  "Thus  did  I  read  and 
construe  the  law."  Moreover,  this  conclusion  by  the 
learned  counsel  plainly  was  concurred  in  by  the  more 
epigrammatic  and  not  less  truthful  and  observant  Col. 
Sanders  when  he  informed  a  client,  who  asked  for  the 
law  applicable  to  a  certain  question,  "The  law  in  Mon- 
tana is  the  last  guess  of  the  supreme  court". 

Avoiding  what  members  of  the  honorable  profession 
of  the  law  might  be  pleased  to  characterize  as  surplusage 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  161 

of  mere  circumstances,  specific  instances  may  be  given 
where  judges  were  selected  without  the  aid  or  consent 
of  the  people  and  unmistakably  in  consideration  of  com- 
bine interests  and  influences.  In  1911  the  legislature  by 
enactment  authorized  an  additional  judge  for  the  Thir- 
teenth judicial  district  of  Montana,  ostensibly  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  people  of  Yellowstone  county,  which 
contained  more  population  and  lawyers  than  all  the  re- 
mainder of  the  district.  The  bar  association  of  that 
county  recommended  Mr.  M.  J.  Lamb,  one  of  its  mem- 
bers, for  appointment  to  the  position.  Governor  Edwin 
L.  Norris  appointed  Mr.  George  W.  Pearson,  of  Carbon 
county,  to  the  place,  with  a  public  explanation  that  Mr. 
Pearson  would  remove  to  Yellowstone  county,  the  sit- 
ting judge  in  that  district  also  being  a  resident  of  Car- 
bon county.  Mr.  Pearson  had  been  a  member  of  the  last 
previous  legislature.  As  a  legislator  he  had  advocated 
and  voted  for  a  measure  notoriously  designed  to  extend 
the  powers  and  special  privileges  of  the  dominant  corpo- 
ration. Also  he  had  served  the  interests  of  the  same  cor- 
porate organization  as  an  attorney  in  his  home  county. 
In  1910  he  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  re-election  to 
the  legislature  by  the  people  of  Carbon  county,  after  a 
campaign  in  which  his  service  to  the  combine  interests 
had  been  made  a  leading  issue.  Governor  Norris  was 
famously  faithful  to  the  same  interests  in  every  emer- 
gency. If  there  was  any  other  reason,  than  that  involved 
in  preference  and  influence  of  combine  bosses,  why  the 
candidate  from  the  wrong  locality,  with  the  poorer  en- 
dorsement from  the  district,  was  selected  to  be  judge  on 
this  occasion,  the  fact  was  not  made  a  part  of  public 
knowledge  in  the  face  of  public  criticism. 

A  more  notable  case  of  corporate  combine  interfer- 
ence and  influence  in  the  selection  of  a  judge,  for  a  more 


162  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

important  position,  where  the  power  of  appointment  to 
be  influenced  was  vested  in  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  was  of  even  more  recent  occurrence.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1911  Judge  Carl  Rasch  resigned  his  office  as  judge 
of  the  United  States  court  for  the  district  of  Montana,  to 
form  a  partnership  with  the  chief  attorney  in  Montana 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway  Company.  The  names 
of  half  a  dozen  or  more  reputable  judges  of  state  courts 
or  practising  attorneys  were  discussed  and  published  as 
of  available  candidates  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Early  in  the 
fall  the  bench  of  the  court  was  vacant  with  some  cases 
of  large  importance  pending  and  with  a  considerable 
number  of  federal  prisoners  confined  in  jail  awaiting  trial 
for  various  alleged  offenses.  The  contest  for  the  position 
developed  a  situation  wherein  Judge  E.  K.  Cheadle,  of 
Fergus  county,  was  credited  with  endorsement  by  more 
Montana  lawyers  than  all  other  candidates  combined, 
together  with  strong  recommendations  by  United  States 
Senator  Joseph  M.  Dixon.  On  December  10,  1911,  The 
Butte  Miner  printed  a  dispatch  accredited  to  its  Wash- 
ington correspondent  telling  of  opposition  to  Judge  Chea- 
dle in  Washington.  The  following  information  was  con- 
tained in  that  message : 

"The  burden  of  the  complaint  against  Judge  Cheadle 
is  said  to  be  that  he  is  in  favor  of  the  initiative  and  refer- 
endum, a  primary  law  and  the  recall  of  judges,  all  this 
having  been  called  to  the  attention  of  the  president  fol- 
lowing the  recent  visit  to  Washington  of  Attorneys  L.  O. 
Evans  and  Con.  Kelley  of  Butte,  and  after  a  conference 
they  had  held  with  Judge  W.  H.  Hunt  of  the  commerce 
court. 

"Protests  against  Judge  Cheadle's  appointment  on  ac- 
count of  his  insurgency  are  said  to  be  on  file  in  the  de- 
partment of  justice  from  Dr.  O.  M.  Lanstrum  and  Thomas 
A.  Marlowe,  both  of  Helena. 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  163 

"It  is  alleged  Judge  Brantly  took  occasion  to  tell 
President  Taft  about  Cheadle's  attitude  on  the  recall 
question  during  his  recent  visit  to  Montana.  Jack  Waite 
has  endorsed  Judge  Cheadle  individually,  but  not  as  the 
republican  state  chairman. 

"Senator  Myers  says  he  is  taking  no  part  in  the  con- 
troversy, but  asserts  that  he  has  endorsed  Pigott  for  the 
place,  and  Thomas  A.  Marlowe  has  filed  a  letter  suggest- 
ing that  Mr.  Pigott's  appointment  would  give  satisfac- 
tion. 

"Judge  Hunt,  who  at  the  request  of  the  president  has 
submitted  to  him  a  statement  regarding  all  candidates, 
is  favorably  disposed  toward  Judge  Pigott.  Representa- 
tive Charles  Pray  is  holding  aloof." 

Mr.  "Con."  Kelley  at  that  time  was  chief  of  the  legal 
department  of  the  copper  combine  at  Butte,  and  Mr.  L. 
O.  Evans  was  next  in  rank  to  him  in  the  same  depart- 
ment. O.  M.  Lanstrum  was  a  "Poohbah"  of  corruption 
for  the  same  interests,  and  Mr.  Marlowe  was  his  "fidus 
Achates".  Judge  Brantly  was  chief  justice  of  the  su- 
preme court  of  Montana,  and  Judge  Cheadle  had  been  a 
candidate  against  him.  Mr.  Waite  was  a  neighbor  and 
personal  friend  of  Judge  Cheadle,  and  the  political  chum 
of  the  combine  managers  of  the  party  machine.  Senator 
Myers  was  the  democrat  who  succeeded  Senator  Carter. 
Mr.  Pigott  was  a  democrat,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  and 
reputable  citizen,  who  had  served  on  the  bench  many 
years  before.  Congressman  Pray  was  "Everybody's 
Friend". 

The  judicial  mind  of  President  Taft  apparently  was 
perplexed  by  these  conflicting  recommendations.  For 
more  than  four  months  the  vacancy  on  the  bench  contin- 
ued. The  contingent  of  untried  prisoners  in  jail  in- 
creased,  and    parties   to   civil    actions   waited    for    that 


164  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

"speedy  remedy"  assured  by  constitutional  guarantee. 
In  January,  Judge  William  H.  Hunt,  of  the  commerce 
court  in  Washington,  travelled  all  the  way  to  Montana 
apparently  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  more  urgent 
demands  for  a  session  of  the  federal  court.  Much  of  his 
time  during  the  brief  stay  as  a  judge  was  given  to  hearing 
a  case  in  which  the  copper  combine  people  were  inter- 
ested parties.  He  visited  Butte,  and  went  back  to  Wash- 
ington. Dispatches  from  the  national  capital  to  Mon- 
tana papers  announced  that  Judge  Hunt  upon  his  arrival 
there  made  a  report  to  the  president  upon  the  matter  of 
the  federal  judgeship  and  had  recommended  to  the  presi- 
dent the  appointment  of  George  B.  Bourquin,  formerly 
district  judge  in  Silver  Bow  county.  Judge  Cheadle,  a 
week  before,  had  sent  to  Senator  Dixon  a  letter  with- 
drawing his  name  from  consideration  in  the  matter  of 
the  federal  judgeship.  Early  in  February,  1912,  Judge 
Bourquin  was  appointed  by  President  Taft  to  be  federal 
judge  for  the  district  of  Montana.  Judge  Bourquin 
served  one  term  as  district  judge  in  Silver  Bow  county, 
being  elected  when  the  Amalgamated  Company  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  Heinze's  control  of  the  courts  in  that 
county.  He  was  not  reelected,  but  his  retirement  was 
not  due  to  matters  connected  with  his  conduct  as  a  judge. 
He  was  a  capable  lawyer,  something  of  an  orator,  and  a 
zealous  partisan  in  political  affairs.  In  1910  at  the  re- 
publican state  convention  held  in  Missoula,  Senator 
Dixon  had  been  selected  by  the  managers  to  be  perma- 
nent chairman,  "in  the  interests  of  harmony".  At  the 
last  moment  the  bosses  became  apprehensive  of  the  re- 
sult of  placing  an  avowed  progressive  republican  in  the 
position,  and  Judge  Bourquin  was  selected  to  preside  in 
his  place.  It  was  a  convention  made  up  largely  of  pro- 
gressive    republicans     and     manipulated     by     combine 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  165 

agencies  to  promote  the  candidacy  of  Senator  Carter  for 
reelection.  In  his  address  to  the  convention,  Judge 
Bourquin  said,  among  other  things : 

"There  is  our  republican  administration  to  be  ap- 
proved. Its  merits  deserve  it.  And  unless  you  approve 
you  cannot  defend,  and  unless  you  defend  you  cannot 
ask  the  people  to  trust  us  further.  The  main  issue  is 
whether  we  shall  do  our  part  to  elect  republican  con- 
gressmen and  senators,  to  the  end  that  they  may  perform 
such  of  our  platform  pledges  as  are  yet  unfulfilled,  or 
whether  we  shall  deliver  house  and  senate  to  democracy, 
stamp  failure  on  the  balance  of  President  Taft's  adminis- 
tration, and  clear  the  way  for  a  democratic  president  in 
1912  and  all  the  proven  attendant  evils  of  democratic  in- 
capacity and  misrule." 

In  his  own  confirmation  by  the  senate,  as  a  member 
of  the  commerce  court,  Judge  Hunt  furnished  an  example 
of  the  exercise  of  copper  combine  influence  in  the  selec- 
tion of  judges,  and  he  had,  by  his  opinion  and  decision, 
while  federal  judge  in  Montana,  in  the  celebrated  "Smoke 
Case",  furnished  illustration  of  similar  influences  in  the 
direction  of  courts,  as  will  appear  more  plainly  in  a  later 
chapter.  The  letter  to  Senator  Dixon  by  Judge  Cheadle, 
withdrawing  as  a  candidate  for  the  federal  bench,  is  pre- 
sented herewith ;  further  to  illumine  the  influences  and 
arguments  which  assisted  the  president  of  the  United 
States  to  a  tardy  conclusion  in  selecting  a  judge  for  a  life 
term,  without  power  of  recall,  in  the  state  of  Montana  : 

"Lewistown,  Mont.,  Jan.  22,  1912. 
"Hon.  Joseph  M.  Dixon, 

"Washington,  D.  C. 
"Dear  Senator:    After  giving  to  the  matter  of  a  suc- 
cessor to  the  Hon.  Carl  Rasch  as  United  States  district 


166  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

judge  for  this  state  more  earnest  and  careful  thought,  I 
am  led  to  definitely  request  that  you  at  once  withdraw 
my  name  from  further  consideration. 

"In  so  doing  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  great  kindness 
of  your  unswerving  interest  in  behalf  of  an  ambition 
which  I  hope  I  properly  entertained  of  higher  honors  in 
my  profession.  I  appreciate  deeply  and  thank  you  most 
cordially  for  that  interest,  as  I  appreciate  and  am  grate- 
ful for  the  loyal  good  will  and  support  of  many  of  my 
other  fellow  citizens  in  Montana. 

"I  am  constrained  to  take  this  decisive  step  in  order 
that  personal  ambitions  of  my  own  may  no  longer  em- 
barass  either  the  administration,  yourself,  or  my  other 
friends  in  this  state. 

"But  in  so  doing  I  would  not  be  true  to  myself,  nor  to 
my  friends,  nor  to  my  state,  were  I  to  fail  to  notice  and 
make  suitable  comment  upon  the  character  largely  as- 
sumed by  the  opposition  to  my  candidacy.  I  refer  more 
especially  to  corporate  interests  which  have  spared  no 
effort  that  ingenuity  could  suggest,  nor  mendacity  in- 
spire, to  impugn  the  motives  which  have  governed  my 
conduct,  both  in  my  private  life  and  in  the  discharge  of 
my  official  duties.  Insofar  as  these  hostile  corporate  in- 
terests have  had  individual  support  from  this  state  in  this 
matter,  I  am  consoled  by  the  reflection  that  it  has  been 
largely  made  up  of  those  who  have  in  secret  heard  their 
master's  voice. 

"These  attacks  upon  me  have,  in  a  general  way,  con- 
centrated upon  the  charge  that,  in  my  political  opinions, 
I  am  "  a  dangerous  radical".  Upon  that  point  let  me  say 
to  you  frankly  that  I  have  nothing  to  conceal,  nor  to 
apologize  for.  I  have  at  no  time  harangued  the  public 
upon  political  topics,  not  having  deemed  that  practice  to 
be  consistent  with  my  judicial  position.     Both  in  private 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  167 

conversation  and  in  public  addresses  I  have  earnestly 
endeavored  to  keep  wholly  within  the  bounds  of  pro- 
priety. If,  however,  in  these  ways  I  have  found  myself 
in  earnest  sympathy  with  the  great  work  inaugurated 
under  Theodore  Roosevelt  while  president,  indorsed  by 
the  platform  adopted  by  the  last  republican  national  con- 
vention, and  vigorously  contended  for  in  his  pre-election 
speeches  by  President  Taft,  that  "radicalism"  is  one 
joined  in  by  millions  of  my  fellow  citizens.  I  rejoice  ex- 
ceedingly that  my  point  of  view  has  enabled  me  to  ap- 
prove of  and  to  applaud  that  sort  of  "radicalism". 

"It  has  been  charged,  specifically,  that  I  have  declared 
myself  as  being  in  favor  of  the  recall  of  all  elective  offi- 
cials, including  the  judiciary.  That  is  a  wilful  perversion 
of  my  well  known  position.  What  I  have  said,  and  what 
I  here  repeat  and  emphasize,  is  that  if  a  majority  of  the 
people  favor  a  provision  of  the  law  for  the  recall  of 
judges,  their  will  should  prevail.  I  am  not  afraid  for 
myself,  nor  timorous  for  other  judges,  to  trust  to  the 
sound  sense  and  patriotic  judgment  of  the  masses  of  the 
American  people  upon  this,  or  upon  any  other  issue, 
fairly  presented  to  them.  If  they  are  unfit  to  take  away, 
they  are  as  unfit  to  bestow,  judicial  honors.  I  have  little 
sympathy  for  the  view  of  those  of  my  profession  who  are 
wont  to  describe  an  American  verdict  at  the  ballot  box 
as  "mob  rule".  The  voters  of  our  country  are  the  sons  of 
the  fathers  who  made  this  nation  great,  and  rich,  and 
powerful,  and  respected ;  and  they  are  the  ones  who 
must  be  trusted  to  maintain  it  so.  In  my  humble  judg- 
ment it  would  be  as  safe  to  entrust  to  the  people  of  Mon- 
tana the  making  and  unmaking  of  judges  as  to  leave  it 
in  the  hands  of  No.  26  Wall  Street.  I  am  reminded,  too, 
in  this  connection,  that  the  one  dominant  note  of  the 
whole  administration  of  President  Lincoln,  and  to  which 


168  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

his  acts,  public  and  private,  were  set,  was  this :  "Trust 
the  people". 

"In  all  my  judicial  experience  I  have  scrupulously  up- 
held the  rights  of  property.  I  have  no  further  purpose 
or  thought  of  any  differing  rule  of  conduct.  If,  however, 
it  be  "radicalism"  in  me,  upon  suitable  occasions,  to  have 
held  that  the  maintenance  of  human  rights  is  the  very 
and  the  only  basis  which  makes  it  possible  to  enduringly 
secure  property  rights,  then  I  plead  guilty.  Important 
as  the  duty  of  preserving  property  rights  may  be,  it  is 
just  as  important  to  keep  ever  in  mind  that  the  health, 
and  the  wellbeing,  and  the  liberty  of  the  average  man, 
woman  and  child  of  our  country  is  the  nation's  most  val- 
uable asset,  and  it  should  at  all  hazards  be  made  the  most 
enduring  one.  In  this  attitude  I  have  the  satisfaction  of 
believing  that  I  am  in  most  excellent  company. 

"In  now  ending,  for  the  present  occasion,  what  I  have 
to  say  with  reference  to  the  charges  so  persistently 
thrust  upon  the  attention  of  the  administration  at  Wash- 
ington, and  which  have  portrayed  me  as  a  dangerous 
character,  I  derive  no  little  gratification  from  the  reflec- 
tion that  my  neighbors  do  not  so  consider  me.  I  have 
lived  in  this  judicial  district  continuously  for  nearly  20 
years ;  from  here  I  enlisted  in  the  Spanish-American  war, 
served  in  the  Philippines,  and  to  this  locality  I  returned 
when  the  war  was  over.  Since  that  time  I  have  been 
elected  to  the  district  bench  for  three  successive  terms, 
twice  without  a  candidate  having  been  named  against 
me.  For  these  sufficient  reasons,  not  all  the  enmity  nor 
opposition  of  those  who  have  evidently  had  purposes 
which  led  them  to  fear  that  in  higher  judicial  position  I 
might  earn  something  like  a  similar  measure  of  public 
approbation,  has  in  it  any  sting  for  me. 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  169 

"Again  thanking  you,  and  all  the  other  good  friends 
who  have  shown  me  so  much  kindly  consideration,  and 
with  sincere  personal  regards,  I  am, 

"Cordially  yours, 

"E.  K.  CHEADLE." 


The  Selection  of  Judges  and  the 
Direction  of  Courts 

PART  II. 

Among  the  instruments  and  influences  employed  by- 
corporate  combine  for  the  direction  of  courts  in  Mon- 
tana, these  may  be  accounted  useful :  Judges  selected  by 
combine  agencies;  special  legislation  in  combine  inter- 
ests; juries  chosen  from  among  combine  employees  or 
beneficiaries;  newspapers  edited  in  harmony  with  com- 
bine policies  and  purposes ;  subordinate  court  officers  se- 
lected with  combine  support;  an  elaborate  legal  depart- 
ment with  many  high-salaried  attorneys  retained  by  the 
year,  and  many  others  employed  for  special  service  on 
occasion;  unlimited  means  for  the  employment  of  high- 
priced  experts  and  special  witnesses,  and  for  protracting 
litigation  and  tiring  out  or  bankrupting  adversaries;  in- 
dividual fear  of  demonstrated  superiority  of  combine 
power;  regularly  employed  detectives  or  spotters  to  as- 
sist the  legal  department  with  information  respecting 
other  people's  affairs. 

A  review  of  verdicts  and  decisions  in  the  courts  of 
Montana  since  Heinze  was  eliminated  as  a  litigant  would 
serve  to  convince  the  average  mind  that  the  copper  com- 
bine either  is  extremely  strong  in  the  right  or  without 
good  grounds  in  experience  for  apprehension  of  severe 
punishment  from  the  courts  for  wrong  doing.  But  it  is 
not  always,  or  most  frequently,  that  the  influence  of 
special  interests  in  the  conduct  of  court  business  is  mani- 

[171] 


172  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

fested  in  final  verdicts  or  decisions  dealing  with  the  real 
questions  at  issue.  There  are  times  when  men  engaged 
in  combine  business  may  find  great  benefit  in  close  rela- 
tions with  court  officers,  and  thus  indirectly  may  direct 
the  courts  to  non-action  rather  than  when  in  action.  An 
instance  indicating  such  a  situation,  as  well  as  the  long 
reach  of  copper  combine  influences,  is  afforded  by  an 
editorial  article  in  Collier's  National  Weekly  in  April, 
1910,  which  reads : 

"Announcement  has  been  made,  not  only  through  the 
daily  newspapers,  but  through  responsible  financial  peri- 
odicals, that  the  Amalgamated  copper  interests  are  about 
to  form  another  gigantic  copper  combination  with  the 
Morgan-Guggenheim  interests.  Announcement  has  also 
been  made  that  the  recent  Standard  Oil  and  American 
Tobacco  Company  decisions  have  caused  this  combina- 
tion to  be  deferred  for  the  present.  Notwithstanding  the 
latter  announcement,  all  arrangements  are  being  perfected 
for  the  proposed  amalgamation.  The  Guggenheims, 
against  the  bitter  protests  of  minority  stockholders,  are 
carrying  out  their  part  of  the  bargain  by  consolidating 
and  watering  the  stocks  of  their  copper  properties.  The 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company  is  at  work  on  the  same 
lines  with  its  various  properties.  Other  plans  are  afoot 
that  lead  us  to  the  belief  that  assurances  have  been  re- 
ceived which  have  nullified  the  effect  of  the  Standard  Oil 
decisions.  These  combinations  are  always  floated  under 
the  influences  of  a  strong  bull  market.  Certain  newspa- 
pers which  periodically  publish  inspired  utterances  are 
engaged  in  the  game  of  boosting  coppers. 

"We  can  all  still  remember  the  bitter  lesson  of  the 
formation  of  Amalgamated — its  train  of  suicides,  bank 
defalcations  and  wrecked  lives.  Is  the  story  about  to  be 
repeated?  Have  any  assurances  of  immunity  from  Wash- 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  173 

ington  been  received  by  the  promoters  of  this  combina- 
tion? If  not,  we  ask  the  attorney  general  of  the  United 
States,  in  all  seriousness,  why  this  proposed  illegal  com- 
bination cannot  be  enjoined.  The  names  of  the  promo- 
ters are  well  known.  Ample  proof  of  their  designs  and 
plans  may  be  had.  Must  the  country  await  the  slow 
process  of  prosecution  after  the  law  has  been  violated?  If 
one  citizen  threatens  the  physical  injury  of  another,  he 
is  put  under  bond  to  keep  the  peace  or  placed  under  re- 
straint. Why  not  restrain  by  injunction  this  open  threat 
of  violation  of  law?  If  the  oil,  beef,  and  tobacco  trusts 
had  been  enjoined,  the  trust  question  would  have  been 
solved  long  since.  At  least  we  would  have  known  by 
this  time  the  anti-trust  law  was  law  or  delusion." 

The  reader  will  meet  with  Attorney  General  Wicker- 
sham  again  in  this  chapter,  with  information  that  may 
serve  as  a  partial  answer  to  some  of  Collier's  pointed 
questions.  First  let  a  few  proceedings  be  recalled  show- 
ing how  results  have  been  obtained  through  devious  ways 
by  directing  courts.  In  1903  the  Heinze-Amalgamated 
war  in  Montana  was  being  waged  most  intensely.  At 
that  time  Heinze's  imitation  combine  named  and  bossed 
the  district  judges  in  Silver  Bow  county,  and  the  Amal- 
gamated Company  had  not  conquered  public  sentiment 
or  destroyed  public  prejudice,  so  political  party  judges 
in  the  higher  courts  might  well  entertain  honest  doubts 
respecting  popular  judgment  however  certain  they  might 
be  in  their  own  judgment  with  regard  to  questions  af- 
fecting the  combatants.  At  that  time  the  Montana  code 
made  no  provision  for  change  of  venue  in  civil  cases. 
Heinze  representatives  had  secured  small  stockholdings 
in  constituent  companies  of  the  Amalgamated  organiza- 
tion, and  had  gone  into  district  court  in  Butte  and  asked 
for  the  appointment  of  a  receiver  to  take  control  of  some 


174  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

of  the  best  productive  properties,  on  the  ground  that  their 
interests  as  stockholders  were  in  jeopardy  through  pos- 
session and  management  of  the  properties  and  business 
by  the  Amalgamated  company.  The  Amalgamated  at- 
torneys sought  to  have  the  action  removed  from  Heinze's 
Butte  judges  by  an  application  to  the  supreme  court  for 
a  writ  of  supervisory  control — in  short,  asking  the  higher 
court  for  protection  against  the  arbitrary  ruling  of  judges 
under  Heinze's  control.  On  June  29,  which  was  the  day 
when  the  case  was  set  for  hearing  in  the  district  court  at 
Butte,  the  supreme  court  was  unanimous  in  denying  the 
writ,  and  very  much  divided  in  reasons  for  the  denial. 
The  announcement  of  the  denial  was  made  in  open  court 
and,  as  quoted  in  The  Butte  Miner  of  June  30,  1903,  Chief 
Justice  Theodore  Brantly  said : 

"In  causes  numbered  1962,  1964  and  1965,  being  ap- 
plications to  this  court  for  writs  of  supervisory  control 
to  prohibit  the  court  of  the  Second  Judicial  District,  with 
Judge  Clancy  presiding,  from  proceeding  with  the  hear- 
ing of  the  certain  causes  set  for  trial  in  that  court,  in  which 
the  Boston  &  Montana  company,  the  Anaconda  Copper 
Mining  company  and  the  Washoe  company  are  parties, 
the  questions  involved  having  been  submitted  to  the 
court  under  motions  to  dismiss  on  the  ground  that  this 
court  has  no  jurisdiction,  after  as  careful  an  examination 
as  we  have  been  able  to  give  to  the  legal  question  in- 
volved during  the  brief  time  we  have  had  at  our  disposal, 
the  court  has  reached  the  conclusion  that  it  cannot  in- 
terfere. 

"I  wish  to  say  on  behalf  of  myself,  that  my  view  of 
this  matter  is  this : 

"The  people  of  this  state  organized  their  government; 
the  scheme  of  that  government  is  contained  in  the  legisla- 
tion of  the  state.     It  is  not  the  province  of  the  court  to 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  175 

mend  or  remedy  the  imperfections,  if  any  exist,  in  that 
system  of  government.  There  are  certain  matters  which 
have  been  reposed  finally  in  the  honesty  and  integrity  of 
certain  individuals  who  hold  official  positions  under  the 
government.  Among  these  are  disputed  questions  of  fact 
and  other  matters  of  that  kind,  lodged  in  the  discretion 
of  the  district  judges. 

"The  legislature  has  deemed  it  wise  to  be  silent  upon 
the  subject  of  bias  and  prejudice  in  district  courts,  there- 
by leaving  it  to  the  honesty  and  integrity  of  the  indi- 
vidual judge  to  perform  his  duty  under  his  oath  in  that 
regard.  If  that  is  an  imperfection  then  this  court  has  no 
power  to  remedy  it.  The  legislation  impliedly  leaves  to 
the  legislature  the  power  to  determine  what  shall  be  the 
disqualification  of  judges,  when  changes  of  venue  shall 
be  had,  and  matters  of  this  kind.  It  is  silent  on  the  sub- 
ject of  how  there  shall  be  a  change  of  judge  under  certain 
circumstances,  and  this  court  has  no  power  to  legislate 
by  declaring  what  should  be  embodied  in  the  organic  law 
or  in  the  statutes  and  act  on  that  legislation. 

"I  do  not  assent  to  the  proposition  that  a  man,  even 
the  humblest  citizen  in  this  state,  has  not  the  legal  right 
to  a  fair  and  impartial  trial.  Every  citizen  has  that  right, 
but  the  remedy  is  not  provided  for  cases  in  which  that 
right  is  not  accorded  by  district  courts,  except  by  im- 
peachment of  the  judge  who  refuses  it,  or  by  discipline 
at  the  polls,  or  through  the  medium  of  disbarment  pro- 
ceedings." 

Associate  Justice  George  R.  Milburn  said : 

"I  join  in  the  order  denying  the  relator's  petition,  for 
the  reason  that  I  am  not  convinced  that  under  the  facts 
alleged  in  the  petitions  the  writ  of  supervisory  control  is 
the  right  remedy,  if  there  be  any,  and  not  being  satisfied 
I  therefore  join  in  the  order.    I  do  not  wish  to  be  under- 


176  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

stood,  however  as  saying  that  in  the  state  of  Montana, 
the  law  is  as  claimed  by  the  respondents,  that  a  judge 
can  lawfully  sit  on  the  bench  in  a  criminal  case  and  try 
John  Doe  or  Richard  Roe  for  murder  of  the  judge's  wife, 
or  for  highway  robbery  committed  upon  him,  the  judge — 
that  is  the  position  taken  by  the  respondents  in  this  case. 
I  do  not  believe  that  is  the  law,  but  I  am  not  convinced 
by  the  relators  that  the  writs  of  supervisory  control 
should  be  issued  in  these  cases.  I  believe  they  have  a 
remedy;  I  believe  the  remedy  is  statutory;  in  this  my 
brethren  do  not  agree." 

Associate  Justice  Holloway  had  been  recently  elected, 
after  bitter  opposition  by  the  Amalgamated  forces,  be- 
cause after  receiving  the  nomination  of  the  Republican 
party  he  had  accepted  the  endorsement  of  Heinze's  in- 
dependent political  organization.  He  concurred  in  the 
decision,  but  from  the  published  reports  appears  not  to 
have  deemed  any  explanation  necessary. 

Within  eight  months  after  that  decision  by  the  su- 
preme court,  Judge  Clancy  had  declared  the  Amalga- 
mated Company  an  outlaw  in  the  state,  that  company 
had  secured  a  special  legislative  session  and  the  enact- 
ment of  a  change  of  venue  law,  and  the  same  supreme 
court  had  set  aside  Judge  Clancy's  decision  with  no  ap- 
parent consideration  of  "disputed  questions  of  fact  and 
other  matters  of  that  kind,  lodged  in  the  discretion  of 
the  district  judges". 

There  are  numerous  cases,  also,  where  findings  of  fact 
by  juries,  respecting  damages  from  loss  of  life  or  limb 
by  workmen  in  corporate  employment,  have  been  arbi- 
trarily set  aside  by  Montana  courts  as  excessive;  and  in 
some  cases  the  injured  man  or  his  widow  and  dependent 
children  have  been  given  and  have  accepted  reduced 
sums,  fixed  by  the  dictum  of  the  court  as  an  alternative 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  177 

to  the  delay  and  expense  of  a  new  trial  and  the  uncer- 
tainty of  another  verdict. 

In  1903  the  Amalgamated  Company  was  defending  its 
own  existence  in  the  courts  of  Montana,  state  and  federal. 
In  1910  it  had  defeated  or  absorbed  all  adversaries  or 
possible  dangerous  rivals  in  business  in  Butte,  and  its 
elaborate  organization  and  influences  were  being  exer- 
cised in  court  proceedings  to  enable  it  to  acquire  new  and 
valuable  properties  on  favorable  terms,  an  argument  in 
trade  which  has  been  aptly  described  in  Montana  as  the 
threat  of  judicial  confiscation.  It  was  that  which  was 
the  real  menace  to  Heinze.  It  was  that  which  was  held 
before  Mr.  William  A.  Clark,  with  preliminaries  arranged 
for  court  actions  to  test  his  title  to  properties  which  he 
had  owned  and  operated  without  question  or  dispute  for 
half  a  lifetime.  Mr.  James  A.  Murray  found  himself 
facing  it  with  an  injunction  which  compelled  him  to  sus- 
pend operations  in  a  property  which  he  had  held  for 
years.  The  Tuolumne  Copper  Mining  Company  devel- 
oped their  profitable  enterprise  in  its  shadow,  met  it,  and 
by  hard  fighting  secured  a  compromise  and  agreement 
which  enabled  them  to  continue  their  business  of  mining 
but  under  combine  conditions  which  practically  com- 
pelled them  to  have  their  ores  reduced  at  the  combine 
smelters.  The  Butte  Balaklava  Company,  the  last  newly 
developed  copper  property  of  value  in  the  camp,  was  as- 
sailed in  like  manner  and  its  stockholders,  at  least  tem- 
porarily, deprived  of  possible  earnings  from  considerable 
parts  of  the  ore  bodies  developed.  All  of  these  actions 
were  of  the  kind  with  which  Heinze  had  harassed  the 
Amalgamated  Company  and  for  which  he  was  bitterly 
and  properly  condemned  by  the  combine  people.  Some 
of  them  were  based  on  pretext  of  claims  so  trivial  in  com- 
parison with  the  importance  of  the  unquestioned  rights 


178  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

involved  as  to  appear  ridiculous  to  almost  anybody  ex- 
cepting a  combine  attorney  and  his  complacent  aids.  In 
the  case  of  the  Tuolumne  Company,  right  of  title  to  a 
large  fractional  interest  in  property  with  a  market  value 
of  millions  of  dollars  was  based  on  a  quit-claim  deed  pur- 
chased by  Mr.  John  G.  Morony,  for  something  like 
$5,000,  from  a  party  who  had  conveyed  his  interest  by  a 
document  imperfect  through  error  of  the  man  who  drew 
the  document. 

In  March,  1910,  representatives  of  the  department  of 
justice  of  the  national  government  filed  a  bill  in  equity, 
in  federal  court  at  Helena,  seeking  remedy  for  injuries 
to  vegetation  and  trees  on  government  lands  from  poi- 
sons precipitated  by  smoke  from  the  Anaconda  Copper 
Mining  company's  smelters  at  Anaconda.  The  action 
was  the  outgrowth  of  investigation  instituted  by  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  on  motion  of  farmers  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  smelters,  and  resulted  from  inability  by  the  govern- 
ment to  secure  relief  or  remedy,  from  evils  ascertained 
and  reported  by  government  agents,  without  proceedings 
in  court.  Immediately  the  newspaper  organs  and  the 
agents  of  the  copper  combine  in  Montana  were  employed 
in  efforts  to  create  public  sentiment  and  to  forestall  re- 
sults through  misrepresentation  of  facts  and  of  questions 
involved.  In  open  contempt  of  court  proceedings,  and 
with  offhand  impeachment  of  official  integrity  of  gov- 
ernment representatives,  Butte  organs  of  the  copper  in- 
terests editorially  prejudged  and  assumed  to  determine 
the  case  upon  the  same  day  that  they  published  their 
first  account  of  the  bill  of  complaint.  The  special  as- 
sistant to  the  attorney  general  of  the  United  States  em- 
ployed in  this  action  had  been  counsel  for  the  complain- 
ant in  a  suit  involving  similar  questions  brought  by  the 
state  of  Georgia  against  the  Tennessee  Copper  company 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  179 

and  decided  by  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States 
against  the  mining  company.  This  case  against  the 
copper  combine  in  Montana  never  was  prosecuted.  There 
was  no  verdict.  "There's  a  reason."  In  September, 
1910,  Attorney  General  Wickersham  visited  Montana. 
The  way  of  his  coming,  the  manner  of  his  reception  and 
entertainment,  and  the  intimate  relations  between  com- 
bine business,  Montana  politics,  senatorial  courtesy,  and 
the  federal  department  of  justice,  were  told  of  in  a  com- 
munication by  a  Butte  citizen  to  the  editor  of  an  inde- 
pendent weekly  paper.  From  that  communication  the 
following  interesting  facts  for  this  chapter  were  ex- 
tracted : 

"The  recent  visit  to  Butte  by  Attorney  General  Wick- 
ersham brought  a  new  novelty  to  combine  proceedings 
in  Montana,  and  emphasized  in  public  knowledge  the 
methods  and  menaces  of  combine  operations  through 
political  channels  which  reach  out  of  Silver  Bow  county 
through  Montana,  and  to  the  national  capital.  A  message 
was  sent  out  from  Washington  that  Hon.  George  Wicker- 
sham, attorney  general  of  the  United  States,  was  on  his 
way  from  Alaska  to  Washington,  and  would  visit  Butte 
and  Anaconda  to  investigate  conditions  connected  with 
the  government  case  against  the  copper  combine  based  on 
alleged  injuries  from  smelter  smoke.  This  message  was 
contemporaneous  with  another  that  John  D.  Ryan,  the 
official  head  of  the  combine,  was  on  his  way  to  Butte. 
Later  it  was  learned  that  United  States  Senator  Thomas 
H.  Carter  would  chaperone  the  attorney  general  during 
his  visit  to  Montana.  Senator  Carter  journeyed  from 
Helena  to  Missoula  and  accompanied  the  attorney  gen- 
eral to  Butte,  which  city  was  reached  Friday  night,  Sep- 
tember 16.  Senator  Carter  remained  with  Mr.  Wicker- 
sham in  the  same  hotel  Friday  night,  ate  breakfast  with 


180  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

him  Saturday  morning,  accompanied  him  on  an  automo- 
bile trip  through  the  national  forest  reserve  and  Deer 
Lodge  valley  Saturday  forenoon,  dined  with  him  at  noon 
at  the  timber  camp  of  Lieutenant  Governor  Allen,  dined 
with  him  Saturday  night  at  the  Montana  Hotel  in  Ana- 
conda, owned  by  the  combine,  went  through  the  Washoe 
smelters  with  him  Saturday  night,  came  to  Butte  with 
him  Sunday  morning  on  a  special  train  furnished  by  the 
railroad  owned  by  the  copper  combine,  went  through 
mines  of  the  combine  in  Butte  with  Mr.  Wickersham 
Sunday  morning,  lunched  with  him  at  noon,  remained 
with  him  at  the  Thornton  Hotel  the  remainder  of  that 
day,  was  with  him  at  a  banquet  given  in  his  honor  by 
John  D.  Ryan  of  the  combine  Sunday  evening,  until  the 
attorney  general  took  the  train  for  the  east.  Messrs. 
John  D.  Ryan  and  Attorney  Kelly  of  the  combine  legal 
department  also  were  with  the  attorney  general  at  the 
foregoing  hospitable  functions. 

"This  surely  shows  the  great  loyalty  of  our  senior 
senator  to  Mr.  Ryan  and  the  corporate  interests  which  he 
represents;  because  the  United  States  through  the  attor- 
ney general  has  brought  suit  against  the  combine  on  ac- 
count of  injuries  and  damages  to  government  forests  and 
public  interests  through  smoke  fumes  caused  by  the 
operation  of  the  smelting  plant  at  Anaconda. 

"The  keen  interest  and  conspicuous  part  taken  by 
Senator  Carter  with  the  combine  officials  in  this  visit  by 
the  attorney  general  is  in  harmony  with  the  part  which  he 
played  in  former  proceedings  when  the  combine  interests 
were  resisting  appeals  to  justice  by  citizens  of  Montana. 
The  farmers  of  the  Deer  Lodge  valley  have  for  years 
been  involved  in  an  action  to  secure  relief  from  damages 
from  the  same  causes.  They  were  sent  out  of  the  dis- 
trict court  in  Montana  without  even  their  costs,  although 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  181 

the  court  found  that  serious  damage  was  done,  and  was 
a  continuing  damage.  After  the  farmers  first  tried  to 
settle  their  differences  as  individuals,  they  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  corporation  managers  agreeing  to  submit  the  en- 
tire matter  to  arbitration,  and  then  waited  several  months 
before  they  filed  their  suit  in  court.  The  last  motion  they 
made  in  the  local  court  was  to  submit  the  question  of 
damages  to  arbitration  and  the  lands  to  condemnation, 
all  of  which  was  refused  after  five  years  of  litigation  with 
unexampled  expense  and  dilatory  proceedings.  Thus, 
we  find  the  same  threat  of  judicial  confiscation  against 
mining  interests  in  Butte  exercised  against  farming  in- 
terests in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley.  Then,  as  now,  Senator 
Carter  was  found  co-operating  with  Messrs.  Ryan  and 
Kelly,  exercising  official  influence  at  his  command  in 
favor  of  the  foreign  combine  and  against  Montana  citi- 
zens. After  the  farmers  had  concluded  their  case  before 
the  master  in  chancery  in  the  federal  court  and  completed 
the  largest  record  ever  known  in  the  judicial  history  of 
the  country,  the  "Scotch  verdict"  against  the  combine 
made  it  necessary  for  them  to  appeal  to  the  higher  court 
in  pursuit  of  justice  and  relief.  Under  the  old  law  a 
transcript  of  the  record  would  have  cost  15  cents  per 
folio,  or  about  $15,000.  An  act,  timely  enacted  through 
the  exercise  of  Senator  Carter's  senatorial  influence,  with 
reference  to  the  Montana  federal  courts,  doubled  the  fees 
and  transcript  of  the  record  to  30  cents  per  folio,  making 
legal  a  demand  by  the  clerk  of  the  federal  court  at  Helena 
for  some  $30,000  for  a  transcript  on  appeal  in  place  of 
$15,000  as  it  would  have  been  under  the  law  when  the 
case  was  started.  After  the  great  expense  which  they 
had  incurred  in  attempting  to  secure  their  rights  of  prop- 
erty in  the  lower  court,  the  farmers  were  amazed  and  dis- 
couraged by  this  discovery  of  increased  costs,  and  feared 


182  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

that  an  appeal  could  not  be  perfected  to  the  circuit  court 
of  appeals.  Then  it  was  that  an  application  was  made 
direct  to  the  court  of  appeals.  The  facts  here  related 
were  called  to  the  attention  of  the  judges,  and  the  court 
of  appeals  made  an  order  requiring  the  clerk  of  the  lower 
court  to  certify  the  original  record  of  all  the  master's 
proceedings  in  Montana  without  costs  of  transcribing; 
and  thus,  instead  of  paying  $30,000,  as  they  would  have 
been  compelled  to  do  under  the  combine  practice  and 
Carter  legislation,  they  paid  less  than  $500  for  perfecting 
their  appeal. 

"It  is  not  presumed  that  Attorney  General  Wicker- 
sham  came  to  Montana  to  be  feted  and  entertained  by  the 
representatives  of  lawless  combinations  which  he  is 
called  upon  to  prosecute  in  the  enforcement  of  the  na- 
tional laws.  The  incidents  are  cited  rather  as  an  evi- 
dence of  the  humble  courtesies  made  by  combine  agents 
when  their  interests  are  concerned  with  the  danger  of 
law  enforcement  without  favor.  If  the  action  of  the  gov- 
ernment against  the  combine  was  without  foundation 
and  without  merit,  does  any  one  suppose  that  Messrs. 
Ryan  and  Kelly  and  Senator  Carter  would  be  wasting 
their  valuable  time  and  spending  the  money  of  their  Wall 
street  employers  in  entertaining  public  officials  engaged 
in  prosecuting  a  groundless  suit?  Is  there  not  more  than 
the  significance  of  good  fellowship  in  the  fact  that  the 
head  of  the  legal  department  of  the  national  government 
was  wined  and  dined  and  entertained  by  these  gentle- 
men during  every  possible  moment  of  his  stay  in  this 
state,  and  kept  under  such  close  environment  by  them 
that  he  was  practically  under  corporation  escort  from  the 
time  he  left  the  train  after  entering  Montana.  These 
gentlemen  appear  to  be  almost  as  proficient  in  obeisance 
to  power  invoked  by  the  public  as  they  are  in  abuse  of 
power  when  brought  under  their  control." 


THE    DIRECTION    OF    COURTS  183 

The  next  step  in  this  interesting  proceeding  came  in 
May,  1911,  when  Attorney  General  Wickersham,  for  the 
United  States  government,  entered  into  a  stipulation  with 
officers  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  company  whereby  it 
was  agreed  that  the  government  should  not  continue  its 
prosecution  of  the  company  for  damages  to  public  forests 
or  public  lands  from  smelter  fumes  so  long  as  the  com- 
pany should  continue  to  operate  its  smelters  in  such 
manner  as  to  meet  the  approval  of  a  board  of  three  min- 
ing experts  whose  services  were  to  be  paid  for  by  the 
copper  company  at  an  extremely  liberal  rate  for  the 
work  required.  A  board  of  three  mining  experts  thus 
selected,  and  thus  compensated,  will  not  be  likely, 
hastily  and  inconsiderately,  to  disapprove  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  greatest  mining  combine  in  the  country,  in 
consideration  of  damage  to  timber  on  government  lands 
or  to  crops  or  livestock  on  the  ranches  of  impoverished 
farmers. 


Where  Trial  By  Jury  Is  a  Farce,  and  Why 

In  the  early  years  of  the  existence  of  the  copper  min- 
ing combination  which  now  dominates  Montana,  its  busi- 
ness and  property  was  the  object  of  attack  in  the  courts 
by  rival  interests  captained  by  an  adventurous  and  re- 
sourceful operator,  proficient  in  the  art  of  mixing  politics 
with  business  to  obtain  special  privilege  and  overreach 
his  associates.  Until  after  the  year  1904,  when  the 
Heinze  candidates  for  judicial  positions  were  defeated  in 
Siver  Bow  county,  the  Amalgamated  Company  people 
made  continuing  and  just  complaint  that  they  could  not 
obtain  justice  in  the  courts  of  that  county.  Besides  the 
practical  control  of  court  officers  by  the  opposition, 
there  was  an  unmistakable  and  carefully  cultivated  pre- 
judice against  the  big  New  Jersey  corporation  as  an 
organization  with  monopoly  control  as  its  chief  purpose. 
As  this  company  acquired  new  powers  through  the  ab- 
sorption of  other  companies  and  the  control  of  diversi- 
fied interests,  its  managers  and  legal  representatives 
adopted  the  influences  and  methods  against  which  they 
had  formerly  protested  and  perfected  the  system  of  con- 
trol to  an  extent  incredible  to  those  not  made  to  know 
its  power  by  use.  The  exercise  of  this  power  was  not 
limited  to  defense  or  to  protection  against  injustice.  It 
was  exerted  mercilessly  and  without  scruple  to  promote 
the  acquirement  of  desired  properties  cheaply  or  dis- 
honestly as  opportunity  offered.  As  new  mines  were  de- 
veloped in  the  district  to  the  point  of  profit  they  were 
coveted  by  the  combine  managers,  and  a  favorite  way  of 
securing  them  at  the  least  possible  cost  was  by  deprecia- 

[185] 


186  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

tion  of  the  property  in  value  and  by  intimidation  of  the 
owners  through  attacks  in  court  upon  titles  to  mining 
claims  or  upon  rights  to  mineral  veins  under  the  apex 
law. 

The  extreme  helplessness  of  the  average  independent 
operator  thus  assailed  was  demonstrated  repeatedly  and 
each  demonstration  naturally  served  as  an  object  lesson 
to  assist  in  convincing  other  property  owners  of  the  hope- 
lessness of  combatting  the  big  company  in  the  local  courts. 
At  the  same  time  all  of  the  great  influences  of  the  great 
organization  and  the  abilities  of  an  extravagantly  main- 
tained legal  department  were  employed  to  resist  efforts 
to  remove  these  court  trials  to  districts  beyond  combine 
control.  The  complete  mastery  over  men  and  condi- 
tions thus  obtained  is  concisely  and  comprehensively  de- 
scribed in  the  legal  proceedings  whereby  a  defendant 
mining  company  sought  to  remove  the  trial  of  its  case  to 
another  court.  This  suit  was  brought  in  the  name  of  the 
Anaconda  Copper  Mining  Company  against  the  Butte- 
Balaklava  Mining  Company  to  deprive  the  last  named 
corporation  of  the  right  to  mine  certain  veins  of  ore 
which  it  had  developed  within  its  mining  claims.  Coun- 
sel for  the  defendant  company,  in  support  of  its  effort  to 
secure  a  change  of  venue,  filed  the  following  attested 
statement  by  Mr.  James  A.  Murray,  himself  not  a  party 
to  the  suit,  although  defendant  in  a  somewhat  similar 
case  involving  properties  of  his  own.  With  the  single 
exception  of  Mr.  W.  A.  Clark,  Mr.  Murray  easily  ranks 
first  among  Montana  citizens  as  an  individual  possessed 
of  great  wealth.  His  responsibility  is  unquestionable, 
and  as  a  pioneer  of  Butte  who  had  fought  his  way  to 
success  with  and  against  all  the  great  conflicting  influ- 
ences known  in  the  mining  history  of  the  town,  his 
knowledge  of  the  facts  is  not  of  hearsay  character.    Here 


WHERE    TRIAL    BY    JURY    IS    A    FARCE  187 

are  the  conditions  which  existed  in  the  most  populous 
county  of  Montana  and  in  the  metropolis  of  the  state  on 
the  seventh  day  of  August,  1911,  as  described  by  Mr. 
Murray  under  oath : 


"JAMES  A.  MURRAY  being  first  duly  sworn  says:  That 
he  is  a  resident  of  the  county  of  Silver  Bow  and  has  been  for 
5*3  years;  that  the  county  of  Silver  Bow  is  a  county  of  small 
territorial  area,  consisting  primarily  of  the  City  of  Butte  and 
suburbs  immediately  adjacent,  with  an  outlying  territory 
sparsely  settled;  that  within  such  outlying  territory,  there  is  a 
total  of  not  to  exceed  360  legal  voters,  in  an  aggregate  of  12,- 
256  for  the  said  county  as  shown  by  the  official  returns  of  the 
general  election  for  the  year  1910;  that  the  basic  industry  of 
the  city  of  Butte  is,  and  for  twenty  years  last  past  has  been, 
quartz  mining — the  principal  ore  mined  for  many  years  last 
past  being  copper;  that  the  mines  now  being  operated  within 
said  county  of  Silver  Bow  all  lie  within  the  said  city  of  Butte 
or  in  territory  immediately  adjacent  thereto. 

"That  prior  to  the  year  1910,  the  business  of  mining  was 
carried  on  within  said  city  of  Butte  and  county  of  Silver  Bow, 
by  various  companies,  largely,  if  not  entirely,  independent  of 
each  other  in  their  directorate  as  well  as  in  respect  to  their 
stockholders,  and  that  many  of  said  companies  employed  large 
numbers  of  men,  in  a  number  of  instances  as  many  as  one 
thousand  or  more,  the  successful  conduct  of  mining  in  the 
Butte  camp  being  possible  only  when  conducted  on  a  compara- 
tively large  scale,  utilizing  capital  in  very  considerable  amount, 
and  employing  laborers  in  very  considerable  numbers;  and  that 
prior  to  the  year  1900,  there  was  so  engaged  in  carrying  on 
the  business  of  mining  in  and  about  the  city  of  rJutte  and 
within  the  said  county  of  Silver  Bow,  the  plaintiff,  Anaconda 
Copper  Mining  Company,  the  Washoe  Copper  Mining  Company, 
the  Parrot  Silver  and  Copper  Company,  the  Boston  and  Mon- 
tana Consolidated  Copper  and  Silver  Mining  Company, 
the  Butte  and  Boston  Consolidated  Copper  and  Silver 
Company,  and  the  Colorado  Mining  and  Smelting 
Company;  that  at  the  same  time  and  thereafter  until 
about  the  month  of  February,  1906,  a  group  of 
corporations  generally  known  as  the  "Heinze  companies" 
were  similarly  engaged  in  mining  in  the  County  of  Silver  Bow, 
and   among   others, — the   Montana   Ore   Purchasing   Company, 


188  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

the  Nipper  Consolidated  Company,  the  Minnie  Healey  Com- 
pany, the  Hypocka  Mining  Company,  the  Johnstown  Mining 
Company,  the  LaFrance  Copper  Company,  the  Guardian  Mining 
Company,  the  Belmont  Mining  Company  and  Corra-Rock  Is- 
land Company;  and  that  during  the  same  period  and  down  to 
about  the  month  of  June,  1910,  another  group  of  corporations 
known  as  the  "Clark  companies",  acquiring  properties  from 
ex-Senator  W.  A.  Clark  and  in  which  he  is  the  principal  stock- 
holder, was  likewise  engaged  in  mining  in  the  same  region; 
that  in  addition  to  the  foregoing,  the  Speculator  Mining  Com- 
pany was  likewise  operating  on  a  large  scale  in  the  Butte  camp. 
"That  incidental  to  the  mining  so  carried  on  by  the  said 
companies,  the  said  Montana  Ore  Purchasing  Company,  the 
said  Colorado  Mining  and  Smelting  Company,  the  said  Parrot 
Silver  and  Copper  Company,  and  the  said  W.  A.  Clark  or  some 
one  of  his  companies  respectively,  operated  within  said  city  of 
Butte  smelters,  at  which  there  were  employed  large  numbers 
of  men;  that  during  the  year  1899  there  was  organized  by  an 
association  of  individuals  consisting  of  some  of  the  leading 
stockholders  of  the  plaintiff,  and  others  closely  allied  to  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  a  corporation  known  as  the  Amalga- 
mated Copper  Company,  employing  and  adopting  the  same 
business  methods  towards  all  opponents  and  competitors  as 
has  been  heretofore  employed  by  the  said  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany, the  said  plan  and  policies  having  been  adopted  by  one 
H.  H.  Rogers,  the  first  president  and  organizer  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Copper  Company,  who  was  a  dominant  factor  in  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company  affairs,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  acquire 
a  controlling  interest  in  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  companies  en- 
gaged in  the  business  of  mining  and  smelting  in  and  about 
the  city  of  Butte,  with  a  view  to  place  the  same  practically 
under  one  management;  the  said  corporation  was  organized 
under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  in  the  year  1899, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  Seventy-five  Million  ($75,000,000.00) 
Dollars,  afterwards  increased  to  One  Hundred  Fifty-five  Mil- 
lion ($155,000,000.00)  Dollars,  and  that  the  said  corporation, 
prior  to  the  year  1902,  became  the  owner  of  a  majority  of  the 
shares  of  the  corporations  hereinabove  first  mentioned,  to- wit: 
The  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  Company,  the  Washoe  Copper 
Company,  the  Parrot  Silver  and  Copper  Company,  the  Boston 
and  Montana  Consolidated  Copper  and  Silver  Mining  Company, 
the  Butte  and  Boston  Consolidated  Copper  and  Silver  Mining 
Company,  and  the  Colorado  Mining  and  Smelting  Company,  and 
likewise  became  the  owner  of  a  majority  of  the  shares  of  the 


WHERE    TRIAL    BY    JURY    IS    A    FARCE  189 

Hennessy  Company,  which  then  was,  and  still  is,  engaged  in 
a  general  merchandising  business  in  the  city  of  Butte  and  which 
carries,  and  has,  during  all  of  the  said  time,  carried  a  stock  of 
goods  largely  in  excess  in  quantity  and  value  of  the  stock  car- 
ried by  any  other  mercantile  house  in  the  said  city,  and  which 
does,  and  during  all  of  the  said  time,  has  done,  the  largest 
merchandising  business  done  in  said  city;  that  during  all  of 
the  period  hereinbefore  referred  to,  a  smelter  of  greater  capac- 
ity than  any  other  smelter  in  the  state  of  Montana,  has  been 
operated  at  the  city  of  Anaconda  in  the  County  of  Deer  Lodge, 
adjacent  to  the  said  county  of  Silver  Bow,  and  distant  from  the 
city  of  Butte  about  twenty-eight  miles,  which  said  smelter  is, 
and  during  all  of  the  said  period  has  been,  as  affiant  is  in- 
formed and  believes,  operated  by  the  plaintiff,  Anaconda  Cop- 
per Mining  Company. 

"That  prior  to  the  said  year  1900  there  was  constructed 
from  the  said  city  of  Butte  to  the  said  city  of  Anaconda  a  rail- 
way, known  as  the  Butte,  Anaconda  and  Pacific  Railway,  by 
a  corporation  of  the  same  name,  the  stock  of  which,  during  all 
of  said  period,  has  been  owned,  as  affiant  is  informed  and  be- 
lieves, by  the  said  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  Company,  the 
plaintiff,  and  that  by  reason  of  the  acquisition  by  it  of  the 
majority  of  the  stock  of  the  said  company,  the  said  Amalga- 
mated Copper  Company  since  it  so  became  the  owner  of  such 
stock,  has  controlled  the  said  Butte,  Anaconda  and  Pacific 
Railway  Company  and  its  operations. 

"That  during  the  said  year  1900,  there  was  in  progress  and 
had  been  in  progress  for  some  years  theretofore,  a  spirited  and 
bitter  litigation  between  one  F.  Augustus  Heinze,  the  principal 
stockholder  and  factor  in  the  aforesaid  Heinze  companies,  and 
associates  of  the  said  F.  Augustus  Heinze  and  his  said  com- 
panies on  the  one  side,  and  some  or  all  of  the  companies,  the 
majority  of  the  stock  of  which  was,  as  aforesaid,  acquired  by 
the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  on  the  other  side,  and 
that  the  said  litigation  continued  with  undiminished  vigor  and 
bitterness  until  sometime  in  the  year  1905,  or  thereabouts; 
that  the  said  warfare  between  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company  and  its  subsidiary  companies  on  the  one  side  and 
the  said  F.  Augustus  Heinze  and  his  companies  and  associates 
on  the  other,  was  carried  on  not  only  in  the  courts  of  Silver 
Bow  and  other  counties  within  the  State  of  Montana,  and  in 
the  Federal  courts  for  the  district  of  Montana,  and  the  courts 
appellate  thereto,  but  was  likewise  carried  into  the  political 
life  of  the  state  and  into  its  legislative  and  executive  activities, 


190  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

and  that  the  lines  between  the  contestants  were  made  manifest 
in  the  business  and  social  world  as  well. 

"That  at  the  general  election  held  in  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber, 1904,  the  judicial  ticket  in  Silver  Bow  County,  supported 
by  the  said  F.  Augustus  Heinze,  having  been  defeated,  he  en- 
tered into  negotiations  with  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company  for  the  sale  to  the  said  company  or  some  one  in  their 
interest  or  associated  with  them,  of  all  of  his  properties  in  the 
said  county  of  Silver  Bow;  that  as  a  result  of  such  negotiations, 
all  of  the  said  properties,  save  those  of  the  LaFrance  Copper 
Company,  were,  about  the  month  of  February,  1906,  transfer- 
red to  a  corporation  organized  by  the  leading  stockholders  and 
directing  spirits  of  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company, 
known  as  the  Red  Metal  Mining  Company,  which,  by  said  trans- 
fer, became  the  owner  of  all  the  properties  of  the  said  Montana 
Ore  Purchasing  Company,  the  Nipper  Consolidated,  the 
Guardian  Mining  Company,  the  Minnie  Healey  Company,  the 
Belmont  Mining  Company,  the  Johnstown  Mining  Company, 
the  Hypocka  Mining  Company,  and  the  Corra-Rock  Island  Min- 
ing Company,  being  all  of  the  said  Heinze  companies,  save 
the  LaFrance  Mining  Company;  that  there  was  paid  for  the 
properties  of  the  said  companies,  the  sum  of  Ten  and  one-half 
million  ($10,500,000.00)  Dollars,  the  said  Red  Metal  Mining 
Company  being  organized  with  a  capital  stock  of  Eleven  Mil- 
lion ($11,000,000.00)  Dollars;  that  the  same  parties  who  or- 
ganized the  said  company  speedily  thereafter  organized  a  cor- 
poration known  as  the  Butte  Coalition,  which  became  the 
holder  of  all,  or  at  least  a  majority  of  the  stock,  of  the  said 
Red  Metal  Mining  Company;  that  the  negotiations  for  the  sale 
of  the  said  Heinze  properties  were  carried  on  on  the  one  side 
by  the  said  F.  Augustus  Heinze,  and  on  the  other  side  by  one 
John  D.  Ryan,  who  then  was  president  of  the  Anaconda  Cop- 
per Mining  Company,  and  now  is  the  president  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Copper  Company,  and  who,  since  prior  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  said  negotiations,  has  been  the  chief  representa- 
tive of  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  in  the  State  of 
Montana. 

"That  there  was  associated  with  him  in  the  said  negotia- 
tions and  in  the  organization  of  the  said  Red  Metal  Mining 
Company,  one  Thomas  F.  Cole,  and  that  since  the  transfer  of 
the  said  properties  from  the  said  Heinze  companies,  all  of  the 
said  properties  have  been  known  as  the  Cole-Ryan  properties; 
that  promptly  upon  the  making  of  the  transfer  of  the  prop- 
erties,  all   suits   pending,    growing   out   of   the   said   litigation 


WHERE    TRIAL    BY    JURY    IS    A    FARCE  191 

heretofore  referred  to,  in  number  more  than  one  hundred  as 
affiant  is  informed  and  believes,  and  involving  claims  aggre- 
gating more  than  Fifty  Million  ($50,000,000.00)  Dollars,  were 
dismissed  and  that  since  the  dismissal  of  the  said  actions  no 
law  suits  of  any  kind  have  been  instituted  or  prosecuted  by 
the  said  Red  Metal  Mining  Company  or  the  Butte  Coalition 
Company  against  the  Amalgamated  Company  or  any  of  its 
constituent  companies,  nor  by  the  latter  against  the  said  Red 
Metal  Mining  Company,  or  the  said  Butte  Coalition. 

"That  sometime  prior  to  the  month  of  May,  1910,  a  contro- 
versy arose  between  the  said  W.  A.  Clark,  or  one  or  more  of 
the  said  companies  controlled  by  him  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  or  one  or  more  of  its  con- 
stituent companies  on  the  other  side,  touching  the  right  to 
ores  of  great  value  within  the  city  of  Butte;  that  said  W.  A. 
Clark  is,  and  for  many  years  last  past  has  been,  a  man  of  very 
great  wealth  and  at  the  time  the  said  controversy  arose  he 
was  employing  a  large  number  of  men  in  the  said  county  of 
Silver  Bow  in  connection  with  his  mining  and  smelting  opera- 
tions; that  in  addition  thereto,  he  is,  and  for  many  years  last 
past  has  been,  a  member  of  the  banking  house  of  W.  A.  Clark 
and  Brother,  one  of  the  leading  financial  institutions  of  the 
city  of  Butte;  that  he  was  twice  elected  senator  from  the  state 
of  Montana,  and  at  the  time  the  said  controversy  arose,  and 
during  the  pendency  thereof,  and  until  the  transfer  herein- 
after referred  to  was  made,  was  a  man  of  large  influence  and 
power  in  the  city  of  Butte,  County  of  Silver  Bow,  and  State 
of  Montana. 

"That  said  controversy  having  so  arisen,  negotiations  were 
entered  into  between  the  said  W.  A.  Clark  on  the  one  side  and 
the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  on  the  other,  as  a  re- 
sult of  which,  all  of  the  mining  properties,  as  well  as  the 
smelter  so  owned  by  one  of  the  said  Clark  companies  and  con- 
trolled by  the  said  W.  A.  Clark,  were  transferred  to  and  be- 
came the  property  of  the  plaintiff  herein,  save  certain  prop- 
erties, the  chief  production  of  which  is  zinc,  and  not  copper, 
and  in  connection  with  the  operation  of  which  a  very  limited 
number  of  men  are  employed,  and  save  also,  that  the  said 
Clark  reserved  the  right  to  make  use  of  the  concentrator  op- 
erated in  connection  with  the  so-called  Clark  smelter,  for  a 
limited  period,  for  the  concentration  of  zinc  ores  extracted 
from  the  properties  so  retained  by  him;  that  affiant  is  informed 
and  believes,  and  upon  such  information  and  belief  avers  the 
fact  to  be,  that  the  said  W.  A.  Clark  closed  such  negotiations 


192  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

and  sold  all  of  his  copper  properties  in  and  about  the  said 
city  of  Butte  as  aforesaid,  because,  among  other  reasons  he 
dreaded  the  submission  to  a  court  and  jury  in  the  county  of 
Silver  Bow,  of  the  controversy  so  arising,  in, view  of  the  power 
and  influence  wielded  within  said  county  by  the  said  Amalga- 
mated  Copper  Company. 

"That  within  the  past  year,  all  of  the  properties  of  the  said 
Red  Metal  Mining  Company,  the  Boston  and  Montana  Com- 
pany, the  Parrot  Silver  and  Copper  Company,  the  Washoe 
Copper  Company,  the  Butte  and  Boston  Consolidated  Mining 
Company  and  the  Trenton  Mining  Company,  which  had  become 
the  successor  in  interest  of  the  Colorado  Smelting  and  Mining 
Company,  have  been  transferred  to  the  plaintiff,  Anaconda 
Copper  Mining  Company,  its  capital  stock  having  been  in- 
creased in  connection  with  the  transfer  referred  to  from  Thirty 
Million  ($30,000,000)  to  One  Hundred  Fifty  Million  ($150,- 
000,000)    Dollars. 

"That  during  the  year  1905,  there  was  organized  by  the 
said  John  D.  Ryan  and  the  said  Thomas  F.  Cole,  a  corporation 
known  as  the  North  Butte  Mining  Company,  which,  upon  its 
organization  became  the  purchaser  of  all  of  the  properties  of 
the  said  Speculator  Mining  Company,  and  has  since  acquired 
the  properties  of  the  Berlin  Mining  Company,  and  that  the 
said  North  Butte  Mining  Company  has,  since  its  organization 
been  engaged  in  the  operation  of  the  properties  so  acquired  by 
it;  that  in  the  acquisition  of  the  said  properties  by  the  said 
North  Butte  Mining  Company,  the  negotiations  for  the  trans- 
fer of  the  stock  or  properties  of  the  said  Berlin  Mining  Com- 
pany, and  as  affiant  is  informed  and  believes,  of  the  properties 
of  the  Speculator  Company,  were  conducted  by  and  on  behalf 
of  the  said  North  Butte  Mining  Company  by  the  said  John  D. 
Ryan,  and  that  since  the  acquisition  of  the  said  properties  by 
the  said  North  Butte  Mining  Company,  the  same  have  also 
been  generally  known  and  spoken  of  as  "Cole-Ryan"  prop- 
erties, and  the  said  North  Butte  Mining  Company,  has  since 
the  organization  of  the  same,  been  generally  referred  to  upon 
the  stock  exchanges  as  a  "Cole-Ryan  property". 

"That  notwithstanding  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company  owns  properties  immediately  adjacent  to  the  prop- 
erties of  the  said  North  Butte  Mining  Company  no  controversy 
between  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  or  any  of  its 
constituent  companies,  and  the  said  North  Butte  Copper  Com- 
pany, has  ever  given  rise  to  litigation,  nor  has  such  controversy, 
if  ever  there  was  any  such,  become  known  to  the  general  pub- 


WHERE    TRIAL    BY    JURY    IS    A    FARCE  193 

lie,  either  through  current  report  or  newspaper  mention,  and 
affiant  avers  on  information  and  belief  that  the  controlling 
stock  interest  in  the  said  North  Butte  Mining  Company,  is 
held  by  some  of  the  directing  spirits  of  the  said  Amalgamated 
Copper  Company, — among  others,  the  said  John  D.  Ryan. 

"That  there  is  no  industry  of  any  character  prosecuted  in 
or  about  the  city  of  Butte,  which  is  a  city,  including  its  suburbs, 
of  about  50,000  inhabitants  as  shown  by  the  official  census, 
except  quartz  mining,  save  such  industries  as  are  either  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  dependent  upon  the  business  of  mining 
as  conducted  in  and  about  said  city;  that  in  addition  to  the 
defendant  in  this  action,  there  are  not,  at  the  time  of  the  in- 
stitution of  this  suit,  and  are  not  now  engaged  in  mining  in 
and  about  the  city  of  Butte,  outside  of  the  companies  herein- 
before referred  to,  as  either  controlled  by  or  as  associated  with 
the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  corporations  or  in- 
dividuals employing  in  such  business,  more  than  Twelve  Hun- 
dred Fifty  (1250)  men;  that  among  such  corporations,  the 
Butte-Superior  Company,  the  chief  values  of  the  ores  of  which 
are  in  zinc,  employs  about  Four  Hundred  (400)  men:  the  Elm 
Orlu,  likewise  operating  on  zinc  ores,  employs  about  One  Hun- 
dred Fifty  (150)  men;  the  East  Butte  Mining  Company,  about 
Three  Hundred  (300)  men;  the  Tuolumne  about  One  Hundred 
Fifty   (150)    men  and  the  Ophir  about  Forty    (40)    men. 

"That  there  are  employed  in  the  mines  in  and  about  the 
city  of  Butte,  operated  by  the  plaintiff,  the  Anaconda  Copper 
Mining  Company,  since  its  absorption  of  the  properties  herein- 
before referred  to,  and  in  those  of  the  said  North  Butte  Min- 
ing Company,  which  employs  from  Five  Hundred  (500)  to 
One  Thousand  (1000)  men,  and  in  various  capacities  in  con- 
nection with  said  mines,  and  in  and  about  the  said  city  by  the 
said  Butte,  Anaconda  and  Pacific  Railway  company,  and  the 
said  Hennessy  Mercantile  Company,  and  by  other  corpora- 
tions controlled  by  the  same  individuals  who  manage  and  di- 
rect the  affairs  of  the  said  plaintiff  company,  and  the  Amalga- 
mated Copper  Company  within  the  said  county  of  Silver  Bow, 
not  less  than  twelve  thousand  (12,000)  men;  that  the  value 
of  the  annual  product  of  the  mines  so  operated  by  the  plain- 
tiff company,  and  its  associate  company,  the  said  North  Butte 
Mining  Company,  is  not  less  than  Twenty-five  Million  ($25,- 
000,000)   Dollars. 

"That  one  of  the  largest  banking  institutions  of  the  city 
of  Butte,  and  state  of  Montana,  is  the  Daly  Bank  &  Trust 
Company,  a  bank  having  deposits  in  excess  of  two   and   one-half 


194  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

million  ($2,500,000)  Dollars,  and  carrying  loans  and  discounts 
aggregating  upwards  of  one  and  one-half  million  ($1,500,000) 
Dollars,  a  large  amount  of  which  is,  as  affiant  is  informed  and 
believes,  loaned  to  men  in  business,  and  residents  of  the  city  of 
Butte;  that  the  said  bank  takes  its  name  from  one  Marcus 
Daly,  who  was  for  many  years  the  general  manager  and  man- 
aging director  of  the  plaintiff  company,  and  who  was  one  of 
the  organizers  of  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  and  that 
the  business  affairs  of  said  bank  are  now,  and  for  some  years 
last  past,  have  been  under  the  direction  of  one  John  G.  Morony 
who  succeeded,  in  the  management  of  said  bank,  the  said  John 
D.  Ryan,  and  who,  in  the  absence  of  said  John  D.  Ryan,  is  the 
chief  representative  of  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  in 
the  state  of  Montana,  and  who  is  now  a  director  of  said  com- 
pany. 

"That  it  is  generally  understood  in  and  about  the  city  of 
Butte,  and  on  information  and  belief,  affiant  avers  the  fact  to 
be,  that  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  or  some  of 
its  stockholders  own  the  controlling  interest  in  the  stock  of  the 
Butte  Water  Company  which  supplies  the  city  of  Butte  with 
water,  and  the  Butte  Electric  &  Power  Company  which  sup- 
plies electric  light,  gas  and  power  to  the  city  of  Butte  and  its 
inhabitants. 

"That  the  only  evening  paper  published  in  the  city  of  Butte 
is  the  Butte  Inter-Mountain,  owned  by  the  Butte  Inter-Moun- 
tain Company;  that  the  stock  of  the  Butte  Inter-Mountain  Com- 
pany is,  as  affiant  is  informed  and  believes,  owned  by  the  said 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  or  some  of  its  principal  stock- 
holders, and  that  the  policy  of  said  paper  is  under  the  direc- 
tion and  control  of  the  same  persons  directing  the  affairs  of  the 
said  company  within  the  state  of  Montana;  that  the  only  morn- 
ing paper  published  in  the  city  of  Butte  is  the  Butte  Miner, 
hereinafter  referred  to,  but  that  there  is  published  in  the  city 
of  Anaconda,  a  morning  paper  having  a  large  circulation  in 
the  city  of  Butte,  known  as  the  Anaconda  Standard;  that  said 
Anaconda  Standard  was  established  by  the  said  Marcus  Daly 
and  that  the  estate  of  the  said  Marcus  Daly  still  owns  a  large, 
if  not  a  controlling  interest  in  the  same;  that  the  said  news- 
paper depends  to  a  very  great  extent  for  its  support  upon  the 
advertising  and  other  patronage  of  the  corporation  controlled 
by  or  affiliated  with  the  said  plaintiff  company  and  the  said 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  and  that  its  policy  is,  and 
always  has  been,  uniformly  in  conformity  with  the  purposes 
and  desires  of  the  plaintiff  and  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper 


WHERE    TRIAL    BY    JURY    IS    A    FARCE  195 

Company;  that  the  said  Butte  Miner  is  owned  by  the  Miner 
Publishing  Company,  the  stock  of  which  is  owned  or  controlled 
by  the  said  W.  A.  Clark,  and  that  its  business  interests  are 
largely  dependent  upon  the  good  will,  or  at  least  upon  not  in- 
curring the  active  antagonism  of  the  said  plaintiff  and  the 
said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  and  the  individuals  and 
officers  locally  directing  their  affairs,  and  that  it  exhibits,  at 
all  times,  a  noticeable  conformity  to  the  policy  of  its  con- 
temporary, the  said  Anaconda  Standard. 

"Affiant  further  avers  on  information  and  belief,  that  the 
individuals  in  chief  control  of  the  affairs  of  the  said  plaintiff 
company  and  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company,  in  the 
state  of  Montana,  are  interested  as  stockholders  and  other- 
wise in  various  other  companies  doing  business  in  the  city  of 
Butte,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  and  further  affiant  says  that 
the  same  persons  have  at  all  times  been  active  in  connection 
with  any  political  movements  in  the  city  of  Butte,  and  have, 
as  is  well  known,  exercised  a  very  large  and  generally  a  pre- 
ponderating influence  in  the  deliberations  of  the  political  con- 
ventions held  in  said  county  of  Silver  Bow,  and  have  been 
largely  instrumental  in  the  selection  of  the  candidates  of  the 
various  parties  for  all  local  affairs,  and  that  the  belief  gen- 
erally prevails  within  the  said  county  of  Silver  Bow,  and 
throughout  the  state  of  Montana,  that  the  said  individuals, 
acting  under  the  direction  and  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
said  plaintiff  company  and  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company,  are  all  powerful  in  the  selection  of  the  candidates 
of  the  political  conventions  held  in  the  said  county,  and  that 
in  consequence  of  such  belief,  the  said  individuals  and  the 
said  corporation  wield  a  powerful  influence  over  all,  or  near- 
ly all  persons  occupying  or  expecting  to  occupy  official  posi- 
tion within  the  county  of  Silver  Bow. 

"That  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  Puget  Sound  Railway 
Company  owns  and  operates  a  transcontinental  line  of  rail- 
way through  the  county  of  Silver  Bow  and  the  city  of  Butte, 
and  in  addition  to  and  in  connection  with  its  transportation 
business,  it  is  engaged  in  the  sale  of  coal,  brought  to  the  said 
city  of  Butte  from  mines  near  Roundup,  Montana;  it  main- 
tains a  dispatcher's  office,  within  said  city,  a  General  Freight 
and  Passenger  Agent's  office,  an  Assistant  General  Superin- 
tendent's office,  a  law  office  and  an  office  of  an  Engineer  of 
Construction;  that  in  addition  to  the  foregoing,  it  employs 
within  said  county,  a  number  of  section  men,  yard  employees 
and  trainmen;   that  the  stock  of  the  said  Chicago,  Milwaukee 


196  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

and  Puget  Sound  Company  is  owned,  as  affiant  is  inform*  d 
and  believes,  by  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Rail- 
way Company,  a  parent  company;  that  it  is  generally  under- 
stood that  the  stockholders  in  whose  hands  are  the  manage- 
ment and  the  control  of  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper  Com- 
pany and  the  said  Standard  Oil  Company,  are  likewise  stock- 
holders, who  manage  and  control,  at  its  head,  the  business 
of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railway  Company, 
and  that  said  John  D.  Ryan,  the  president  of  the  said  Amal- 
gamated Copper  Company,  and  one  Wm.  Rockefeller,  prom- 
inent in  the  affairs  of  the  said  Standard  Oil  Company,  are 
both  directors  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Rail- 
way Company. 

"That  about  the  time  this  action  was  commenced,  the 
plaintiff  herein  began  an  action  against  the  Monidah  Trust, 
a  corporation  controlled  by  one  James  A.  Murray,  and  against 
the  said  James  A.  Murray,  who  was  operating  a  mining  claim 
known  as  the  Ticon,  under  a  claim,  similar  to  that  asserted  in 
this  action,  claiming  therein,  that  ores  being  extracted  by 
the  said  Murray  from  said  Ticon  were  within  a  vein  having  its 
apex  within  property  owned  by  the  plaintiff  company;  that 
said  action  is  still  pending,  an  injunction  having  been  granted 
therein,  as  in  this  action,  by  which  the  mining  operations  be- 
ing conducted  by  the  said  Murray  were  interrupted;  that  at  or 
about  the  same  time,  an  action  was  commenced  by  the  said 
North  Butte  Mining  Company  against  the  said  Tuolumne  Min- 
ing Company,  under  a  similar  claim,  but  that  the  said  action 
was  thereafter  settled  and  dismissed  pursuant  to  some  agree- 
ment entered  into  between  the  said  North  Butte  Mining  Com- 
pany and  the  said  Toulumne  Mining  Company,  the  said  Tou- 
lumne  Mining  Company  being  induced,  as  affiant  is  informed 
and  believes,  to  settle  the  controversy  thus  arising  upon  con- 
siderations somewhat  similar  to  those  hereinbefore  referred 
to  as  operative  in  inducing  the  sale  of  his  properties  by  the 
said  W.  A.  Clark. 

"That  the  Butte  Business  Men's  Association  is  an  or- 
ganization of  persons  engaged  either  directly  or  through  cor- 
porations with  which  they  are  affiliated,  in  merchandising  and 
in  other  lines  of  business  in  the  city  of  Butte,  and  that  there 
is  affiliated  therewith  an  association  of  merchants  being  mem- 
bers of  the  said  association,  known  as  the  Butte  Credit  Men's 
Association;  that  among  other  activities  of  said  Butte  Credit 
Men's  Association,  it  assumes  to  determine  and  does  determine 
and  decide  the  amount  of  credit  which  ought  to  be  extended  to 


WHERE    TRIAL    BY    JURY    IS    A    FARCE  197 

the  several  merchants  of  the  city  of  Butte,  and  to  determine 
and  decide  upon  the  solvency  of  those  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing; and  that  upon  the  determination  of  such  association  that 
any  merchant  is  not  entitled  to  further  credit  the  effort  of  the 
said  association  is  put  forth  to  prevent  his  obtaining  it,  and 
if  it  determines  that  it  is  unwise,  in  view  of  the  financial  con- 
dition of  any  merchant,  as  determined  by  them,  that  he 
continue  business,  steps  are  taken  by  the  said  association  to 
procure  the  liquidation  of  the  business  of  such  merchant  and 
accomplish  his  retirement  from  business;  that  in  both  of  said 
associations  one  C.  J.  Kelly,  who  is  general  manager  of  the 
business  of  the  Hennessy  Company,  heretofore  referred  to,  has 
a  very  great  influence,  and  that  he  assumes  in  a  very  large 
part,  the  direction  of  the  affairs  of  both  of  said  associations, 
and  that  by  and  through  such  associations,  the  said  plaintiff 
company  and  the  said  Amalagamated  Copper  Company,  exer- 
cise a  very  large  measure  of  influence  and  control  over  the 
business  houses  in  the  city  of  Butte. 

"That  upon  the  transfer  to  the  said  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company  of  the  stock  of  the  said  companies  hereinbefore  re- 
ferred to  operating  four  large  smelters  within  the  city  of 
Butte  and  to  the  plaintiff  company  of  the  properties  of  the 
said  W.  A.  Clark,  all  of  the  smelters  were  closed  down,  and  all 
of  them  have  been  dismantled  and  razed,  save  the  said  Clark 
smelter,  which,  however,  has  never  since  the  said  transfer 
been  operated,  and  that  all  of  the  ores  now  produced  by  the 
plaintiff  company  or  any  of  the  constituent  companies  of  the 
said  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  or  the  companies  affiliated 
therewith,  are  smelted  at  the  said  smelter  of  the  plaintiff  com- 
pany situated  at  the  city  of  Anaconda  or  at  another  smelter 
owned  by  it,  at  the  city  of  Great  Falls. 

"That  the  plaintiff  company  owns  within  said  county  of  Sil- 
ver Bow,  property  of  value  in  excess  of  One  Hundred  fifty 
million  ($150,000,000.00)  dollars  and  that  the  aggregate  value 
of  all  other  property  in  the  said  county  does  not  exceed  fifty 
million    ($50,000,000.00)    Dollars. 

"That  the  attorneys  for  the  plaintiff  company  at  the  city  of 
Butte,  are  likewise  the  attorneys  for  the  said  North  Butte  Min- 
ing Company,  the  Butte  Water  Company,  the  Daly  Bank  & 
Trust  Company  and  the  Butte,  Anaconda  and  Pacific  Railway 
Company. 

"That  this  general  dread  on  the  part  of  mine  owners  of  the 
litigation  and  threatened  litigation  with  the  Amalgamated  in- 
terest and  the  fact  that  said  owners  could  not  safely  protect 


198  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

their  interest  in  the  trial  of  said  suits  in  said  county  of  BllTer 
Bow,  together  with  the  active  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Amal- 
gamated interests  in  threatening  and  instituting  suits  with 
all  abutting  owners  of  copper-producing  mines  except  those 
allied  with  them  in  interest,  has  been  one  of  the  chief  means 
of  bringing  about  sales  to  the  said  Amalgamated  interest,  at 
prices  satisfactory  to  them. 

"That  the  combined  Amalgamated  interests  as  aforesaid 
are  engaged  in  the  general  mercantile  business,  dealing  in  and 
distributing  all  classes  of  dry  goods,  gents'  furnishings,  la- 
dies' suits  and  wears,  including  all  descriptions  of  wearing  ap- 
parel for  men,  women,  and  children,  used  or  sold  in  the  said 
city  of  Butte;  and  also  sell  and  distribute  furniture,  carpets, 
groceries,  fruits,  meats,  flour,  provisions,  hardware,  mining 
machinery  and  mining  supplies,  coal,  lumber,  water,  electric 
light  and  electric  power,  gas,  and  many  other  necessary  com- 
modities not  herein  mentioned. 

"That  in  selling  and  distributing  said  products  at  whole- 
sale or  retail  to  the  laboring  men  and  business  men  of  Butte, 
the  said  Amalgamated  Interests  carry  on  a  very  large  part  of 
the  business  on  credit,  and  especially  a  large  credit  has  been 
extended  by  the  Hennessy  Company,  on  an  extensive  scale  to 
the  laboring  men,  employed  by  the  said  Amalgamated  inter- 
ests, and  a  large  credit  has  also  been  extended  to  the  business 
men,  and  including  the  credit  extended  to  the  residents  of 
Silver  Bow  County  by  the  public  service  corporations,  such  as 
the  Butte  Water  Company,  the  Butte  Electric  &  Power  Com- 
pany, and  other  subsidiary  companies,  that  nearly  at  all  times 
the  relation  of  debtor  and  creditor  would  exist  between  all 
persons  called  to  sit  upon  a  jury  in  said  county  of  Silver  Bow, 
and  some  one  or  more  of  the  said  friendly  and  allied  com- 
panies composing  the  Amalgamated  interests  in  the  city  of 
Butte  and  dominated  and  controlled  by  their  said  managers 
and  their  said  attorneys. 

"That  credit  has  been  extended  to  the  laboring  men  of  the 
said  county  of  Silver  Bow  by  the  said  Hennessy  Company  on  a 
very  large  scale  and  based  upon  the  condition  that  the  men 
are  in  the  employ  of  the  different  Amalgamated  companies, 
and  the  further  fact  that  their  wages  are  assigned  to  the  said 
Hennessy  Company  through  the  medium  of  time  checks;  and 
affiant  is  informed  and  believes  that  all  classes  of  laboring  men 
who  expect  credit  at  the  Hennessy  Company  must  assign  their 
said  wages  to  the  said  company  and  purchase  their  merchan- 
dise from  said  company,  and  that  if  they  are  in  debt  to  said 


WHERE    TRIAL    BY    JURY    IS    A    FARCE  199 

company,  they  believe  their  chances  for  obtaining  employment 
from  the  Amalgamated  interests  are  very  much  greater  than 
if  the  relation  of  debtor  and  creditor  does  not  exist;  and  they 
also  believe  that  unless  they  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  the 
Amalgamated  company,  their  chances  of  obtaining  credit  or 
employment  from  the  said  Amalgamated  interests  are  very 
greatly  lessened. 

"That  many  of  the  merchants  of  said  city  of  Butte  believe 
that,  if  the  Amalgamated  interests,  their  attorneys  and  man- 
agers, are  unfriendly  to  them,  that  it  would  be  unsafe  for  them 
to  extend  credit  to  persons  in  the  employ  of  said  Amalgamated 
interests  in  the  said  county  of  Silver  Bow,  and  that  the  busi- 
ness in  all  the  mercantile  stores  is  very  largely  carried  on  by 
the  storekeeper  extending  credit  to  men  employed  by  the  said 
Amalgamated  interests,  and  that  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
the  assigning  of  the  men's  wages  to  the  Hennessy  Company 
has,  at  all  times,  been  very  unpopular  among  the  other  mer- 
chants of  the  city  of  Butte,  the  said  merchants  through  fear 
have  been  unable  to  make  any  general  or  open  protests,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  by  reason  of  said  assignments  the 
Hennessy  Company  has  a  very  great  advantage  in  securing 
and  keeping  the  trade  of  the  men  employed  by  the  said  Amal- 
gamated interests,  thereby  practically  monopolizing  the  earn- 
ings and  trade  of  the  miners  and  laborers  employed  by  the 
said  Amalgamated  interests  to  such  a  great  extent  that  the 
men  sitting  on  a  jury  and  being  in  their  employ,  would  not  be 
in  a  position  to  fairly  and  impartially  weigh  the  evidence  and 
render  a  fair  and  impartial  verdict  thereon  by  reason  of  the 
inducements  to  favor  the  said  Amalgamated  interests  as  here- 
in stated,  and  by  reason  of  the  further  fact  that  the  relation  of 
debtor  and  creditor  would  so  generally  exist,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  as  aforesaid,  that  very  few  qualified  jurors  in  fact 
can  be  found  in  said  county  of  Silver  Bow  to  try  the  above  en- 
titled cause. 

"And  now,  affiant  avers  the  fact  to  be  that  by  reason  of  all 
the  facts  hereinbefore  set  forth,  the  said  plaintiff  company  has 
and  exercises  such  power  and  influence  industrially,  politically, 
financially,  commercially,  and  socially,  within  the  county  of 
Silver  Bow,  that  defendant  can  not  have  a  fair  trial  in  the  said 
county  and  that  there  is  abundant  reason  to  believe  that  it 
can  not  have  such  fair  trial. 

"That  the  plaintiff  has  substantially  the  same  political,  in- 
dustrial, social  and  financial  power  in  the  county  of  Deer  Lodge 
as  in  said  county  of  Silver  Bow,  making  a  change  of  the  place 


200  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

of  the  trial  of  this  action  to  said  county  of  Deer  Lodge  sub- 
ject to  substantially  the  same  objections  on  part  of  defendant, 
as  exist  in  said  county  of  Silver  Bow. 

"Affiant  further  says:  That  he  resided  in  said  county  of 
Silver  Bow  for  many  years,  and  has  had  in  the  past,  and  still 
has  considerable  property  interest  within  said  city,  and  that 
he  has  deemed  it  advisable  to  make  an  application  for  a  change 
of  venue  in  said  action  brought  by  the  plaintiff  company 
against  the  Monidah  Trust,  upon  an  affidavit  in  substance  the 
same  or  similar  to  one  verified  by  this  affiant  in  the  said  suit 
by  the  above  named  plaintiff  against  the  Butte-Balaklava 
Mining  Company,  and  that  in  the  preparation  of  said  affidavit 
that  the  Hon.  T.  J.  Walsh  of  Helena,  Montana,  has  rendered 
very  important  assistance  to  James  T.  Murray,  Esq.,  and  R. 
L.  Clinton,  Esq.,  attorneys  for  the  Monidah  Trust  and  this 
affiant. 

"Affiant  further  says  that  this  affidavit  is  made  that  a  fair 
trial  of  this  cause  may  be  had  before  an  impartial  court  and 
jury  in  a  community  that  is  unbiased  in  respect  to  any  of  the 
matters  at  issue." 


The  Celebrated  Case  of  Farmer  vs.  Combine 

When  God  created  that  part  of  the  world  now  known 
as  the  state  of  Montana  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  distin- 
guished Wall  Street  operators,  and  filled  the  Butte  hill 
with  gold  and  silver  and  copper,  he  likewise  created  fer- 
tile and  beautiful  valleys  richly  adapted  to  production  of 
fruits  of  the  soil  and  of  sheep  and  cattle  as  well  as  to  habi- 
tation for  happy  human  kind.  Inscrutable  Providence 
likewise  mixed  the  precious  metals  of  the  Butte  hill  with 
profuse  quantities  of  sulphur  and  arsenic.  Long  years 
before  Coal  Baron  Baer  had  revealed  the  puissant  right 
of  modern  combines  as  instruments  of  Divine  will  and 
Infinite  mercy,  or  the  Rockefellers  and  Rogers  had  insti- 
tuted this  right  in  Montana,  perverse  man,  in  guise  of 
pioneer,  had  penetrated  to  these  valleys,  had  developed 
farms,  established  homes,  accumulated  flocks  and  herds, 
installed  the  arts  of  civilization,  and  dreamed  of  grati- 
tude from  a  prosperous  posterity. 

By  reason  of  its  proximity  to  the  mining  fields  and 
town,  and  because  of  its  extensive  soil  and  water  re- 
sources, Deer  Lodge  valley  was  one  of  the  first  in  the 
state  to  be  occupied  by  ranchmen.  This  valley  started 
in  the  mountains  a  few  miles  west  of  Butte  and  extended 
north  for  about  fifty  miles,  with  width  varying  from  five 
to  fifteen  miles,  between  foothills  largely  wooded  and 
with  never-failing  mountain  streams  flowing  from  either 
side  as  feeders  to  the  Deer  Lodge  river  which  coursed 
its  length. 

The  first  rich  earnings  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Min- 
ing company  were  derived  by  shipping  high  grade  ores 

[201] 


202  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

to  Wales  for  reduction  and  smelting.  When  Marcus 
Daly,  in  search  of  water  supply  and  smelter  sites,  found 
both  at  the  head  of  Deer  Lodge  valley,  and  founded  the 
city  of  Anaconda,  the  valley  farmers  found  their  best 
market  almost  at  their  doors.  The  smelters  of  those 
days  were  constructed  with  short  smokestacks  from  fur- 
naces and  concentrators;  and  the  works,  while  extensive, 
were  small  compared  with  those  of  later  years.  The 
fumes  from  these  stacks,  which  carried  off  the  poisons 
from  the  ores,  blighted  and  destroyed  vegetation  in  the 
immediate  vicinity,  but  were  not  carried  far,  and  there 
was  no  vegetation  in  or  about  Butte  or  adjacent  to  the 
original  works  at  Anaconda  greatly  to  concern  anybody. 
Soon  after  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company  was  or- 
ganized it  constructed  a  smelting  plant,  the  largest  in 
the  world,  across  the  town  from  the  old  works  and 
higher  up  on  the  mountain  foothills,  so  that  the  prevail- 
ing winds  carried  the  smoke  down  the  valley.  Soon 
blighted  crops  and  dying  livestock  on  many  of  the  farms 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  new  smelters  caused  investiga- 
tion, which  proved  that  both  forms  of  misfortune  to  the 
farmers  came  from  the  smelter  fumes  by  precipitation 
of  sulphuric  acids  and  arsenic.  Mr.  William  Scallon  was 
then  in  charge  of  Amalgamated  company  affairs  in  Mon- 
tana, and  after  becoming  satisfied  of  the  company's  re- 
sponsibility for  the  injury  to  agriculture  and  stock-grow- 
ing, he  employed  company  agents  in  the  work  of  adjust- 
ing claims  and  paying  losses  of  the  farmers,  while  the 
company  employed  experts  in  efforts  to  provide  a  remedy 
for  the  destructive  features  of  smelter  operations.  As  a 
result,  the  company  constructed  an  immense  flume  to 
conduct  the  smoke  from  all  the  works  for  many  hundreds 
of  feet  to  the  top  of  the  foot  hill,  and  built  at  the  end  of 
that    flume    what    was    then    the    greatest    and    highest 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  203 

smokestack  in  the  world.  Both  flume  and  stack  were 
equipped  with  devices  designed  to  hold  in  the  flume 
great  quantities  of  the  arsenic,  and  it  was  the  theory  of 
the  experts  that  the  smoke  from  this  stack  would  be  pro- 
jected into  the  air  at  so  great  an  altitude  and  diffused 
over  such  great  space  before  reaching  the  ground  that  the 
precipitation  from  it  would  be  harmless.  Something  like 
$300,000  was  paid  to  the  farmers  to  compensate  them  for 
loss  and  injuries,  and  to  secure  releases  from  them  of 
damage  claims  till  July  1,  1903,  when  the  new  stack  was 
to  be  completed.  The  completion  of  the  stack  was  noted 
by  a  celebration  which  was  attended  by  Deer  Lodge 
valley  farmers  almost  unanimously,  and  they  were  en- 
tertained with  other  people  to  the  number  of  hundreds 
at  a  banquet  served  in  the  shelter  of  the  great  flume. 
There  was  an  abundance  of  goodwill  and  mutual  con- 
gratulation, based  upon  mutual  confidence  that  cause  of 
trouble  or  damage  on  either  side  was  to  be  removed. 
While  the  great  flume  caught  and  saved  to  the  copper 
company  arsenic  in  quantity  to  control  the  market  of  the 
world,  and  is  alleged  to  have  more  than  paid  its  cost  by 
saving  in  mineral  which  formerly  had  gone  into  the  air 
from  furnace  stacks,  it  did  not  afford  a  satisfactory  pro- 
tection to  the  farmers  against  smelter  poison.  It  did 
diffuse  the  smoke  contents  over  a  greatly  extended  area 
and  make  the  effects  from  them  less  immediately  notice- 
able. Late  in  1904  there  were  new  claims  for  damages, 
and  in  1905  almost  all  of  the  farmers  in  the  valley  were 
members  of  an  association  organized  to  secure  compensa- 
tion for  losses  incurred,  and  relief  from  or  protection 
against  future  injury.  The  company  had  changed  in 
management  and  in  policy.  John  D.  Ryan  had  succeeded 
William  Scallon,  and  it  was  determined  to  wear  out 
rather  than  to  buy  out  the  farmers  of  the  Deer  Lodge 


204  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

valley.  The  means  expended,  the  agencies  employed, 
the  methods  practiced,  the  time  exhausted,  the  results 
accomplished,  were  sometimes  ludicrous,  sometimes  seri- 
ous, sometimes  criminal,  sometimes  patriotic,  always  ex- 
haustive, usually  expensive.  No  better  exhibit  of  awe- 
inspiring  power  and  insatiate  greed  of  corporate  com 
bine,  and  no  worse  exhibit  of  "the  insolence  of  office,  the 
law's  delay'',  the  smug  sufficiency  of  officers  of  justice, 
the  inefficiency  of  government  for  justice,  can  be  found 
in  any  part  of  the  country  than  those  furnished  by  the 
history  of  this  case  of  Farmer  vs.  Combine,  or,  in  the 
court  records,  Fred.  J.  Bliss  vs.  The  Washoe  Copper 
Company  and  The  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  Company. 

These  farmers  sought  settlement  without  litigation. 
The  first  papers  in  the  famous  suit  were  filed  May  5. 
1905.  On  January  30,  1905,  K.  D.  Smith,  president,  and 
William  T.  Stephens,  secretary,  of  the  Farmers'  Asso- 
ciation, addressed  a  letter  to  the  combine  officers,  the 
contents  of  which  follow  : 

"Owing  to  the  conditions  that  prevail  in  the  Deer 
Lodge  valley  as  a  result  of  the  operation  of  your  smelting 
plant,  generally  known  as  the  Washoe  smelters,  there 
has  been  formed  the  Deer  Lodge  Valley  Farmers'  Asso- 
ciation, for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  relief  on  the  part  of 
the  farmers  of  Deer  Lodge  valley  from  the  general  and 
widespread  damage  caused  and  resulting  from  your 
smelting  operations. 

"It  is  the  sincere  and  earnest  desire  of  every  farmer 
in  said  association  to  secure  an  amicable  settlement  for 
the  damages  already  incurred,  and  which  may  be  here- 
after incurred,  from  your  smelting  operations,  without  in 
any  manner  causing  your  companies  any  needless  annoy- 
ance, litigation,  expense,  or  in  any  manner  attempting 
to  interfere  with  the  future  operation  of  your  smelting 
plant. 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  205 

"We  believe  that  stockraising  or  farming  in  the  Deer 
Lodge  valley  within  the  smoke-infected  portion  cannot 
be  carried  on  as  long  as  your  smelting  operations  con- 
tinue, and  that  litigation  will  ultimately  engender  bad 
feeling  between  the  smelting  interests  and  the  farming 
interests,  and  will  cause  much  needless  expense  to  all 
parties  concerned. 

"The  members  of  the  Farmers'  association  have  di- 
rected their  committee  to  use  every  honest  endeavor  to 
secure  a  fair  and  just  settlement,  either  by  mutual  agree- 
ment between  the  parties,  and,  where  mutual  agreement 
cannot  effect  a  settlement,  then  by  arbitration  of  all  dif- 
ferences between  the  smelting  people  and  the  farmers, 
and  to  that  end  we  desire  to  present  to  those  officers  who 
have  authority  to  bind  the  company's  interest  our  re- 
quest for  an  amicable  adjustment  of  those  differences, 
so  that  some  plan  can  be  formulated  and  agreed  to  by  all 
parties  concerned. 

"R.  L.  Clinton,  Esq.,  has  been  selected  by  the  com- 
mittee to  represent  the  association  and  the  members 
thereof,  to  discuss  ways  and  means  of  bringing  about  an 
amicable  settlement,  and  no  plan,  stipulation  or  agree- 
ment will  be  ratified  in  reference  to  the  smoke  cases  or 
settlement  thereof  unless  approved  by  him  and  the  execu- 
tive committee." 

The  answer  to  this  letter  came  from  Mr.  A.  J.  Shores, 
then  chief  of  the  copper  combine's  legal  department  in 
Montana,  in  the  form  of  a  request  to  the  farmers  to  sub- 
mit to  the  companies  defendant  a  bill  of  particulars  con- 
cerning claims  and  damages.  Mr.  Shores'  communication 
discouraged  arbitration  for  the  given  reason  that  an 
agreement  to  arbitrate  could  not  be  enforced  under  Mon- 
tana statutes,  with  an  opinion  that  arbitration  would  be 
almost   as   expensive   as   litigation.      Mr.    Shores    closed 


206  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

with  an  assurance  that  if  the  farmers  should  see  fit  t<> 
adopt  the  course  suggested  by  him,  to  give  particulars 
of  claims  and  damages,  "the  company  will,  in  good  faith, 
act  promptly  in  the  matter,  and  expedite  the  negotia- 
tions in  every  reasonable  way."  The  farmers  responded 
with  the  bill  of  particulars  as  asked.  The  action  of  the 
company  in  good  faith,  as  promised  by  Mr.  Shores,  i^ 
thus  described  in  the  brief  submitted  by  the  farmers'  at- 
torneys in  court : 

"The  company,  after  receiving  a  list  of  all  damages, 
including  land  description,  live-stock,  etc.,  never  made 
any  answer  at  all  to  this  letter  or  to  the  claims  for  dam- 
ages, showing  conclusively  that  they  were  acting  in  bad 
faith,  and  for  the  purpose  only  of  getting  from  each 
farmer,  in  advance,  just  what  his  claims  were,  so  that  he 
would  be  confined  to  this  data  in  case  of  a  damage  suit." 
This  unanswered  letter  from  the  farmers  also  contained 
offers  of  settlement,  and,  according  to  the  same  brief 
filed  in  court,  "The  letter  itself  shows  that  there  are 
60,525  acres  of  patented  lands,  together  with  all  water 
rights  and  improvements,  all  being  under  fence,  and  gen- 
erally all  being  improved  farms,  for  which  is  demanded 
the  sum  of  $918,147,  which  insures  to  the  company  title 
to  all  the  lands,  water  rights  and  improvements,  for  the 
sum  of  $18.17  per  acre." 

In  that  letter  they  gave  the  company  two  months  time 
in  which  to  reach  a  settlement,  and  there  was  no  objection 
to  any  of  the  the  propositions  or  request  for  any  further 
time  to  give  answer.  The  action  was  commenced  in  fed- 
eral court  in  the  name  of  F.  J.  Bliss,  a  resident  of  the 
state  of  Idaho  owning  a  farm  in  the  valley.  This  offer  of 
settlement  is  significant,  because  the  copper  combine, 
through  its  organs  and  other  agencies,  continuously 
sought  to  impress  public  and  courts  with  pretense  that 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  207 

its  management  desired  to  be  fair  while  the  farmers 
would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  an  injunction 
order  to  close  the  smelters  and  compel  the  combine  to 
settle  on  such  terms  as  the  farmers  would  make.  The 
falsity  of  this  pretense  was  repeatedly  exposed  by  the 
plaintiffs,  with  offers  to  submit  to  arbitration  made  in 
and  out  of  courts,  and  to  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  as  well  as  to  the  company  officials  prior  to  be- 
ginning any  action.  The  farmers  filed  their  complaint  on 
May  5,  1905,  and  presented  their  case  in  ninety  days  be- 
tween January  15  and  April  15,  1906.  Not  till  April  26, 
1909,  was  the  final  decision  in  the  trial  court  received. 
The  court  had  fixed  the  time  for  the  submission  of  evi- 
dence, giving  plaintiffs  three  months  for  their  evidence 
in  chief,  a  like  time  to  the  defendants,  and  the  plaintiffs 
to  have  fifteen  days  more  to  close  the  case.  When  the 
farmers  had  complied  with  this  order  of  the  court,  the 
combine  attorneys  began  demanding  and  securing  ex- 
tensions of  time  for  its  evidence.  Some  of  its  representa- 
tives had  told  some  of  the  farmers  interested  that  they 
would  be  kept  in  litigation  for  years,  or  until  they  were 
bankrupt.  The  taking  of  testimony  did  not  conclude  till 
the  last  of  March,  1907,  almost  a  year  after  the  farmers 
had  closed  their  case.  Some  of  the  reasons  for  this  delay 
as  alleged  in  the  plaintiff's  brief  will  appear  of  importance 
to  laymen  if  not  to  court  officials.  In  this  brief  the  plain- 
tiff's attorneys  say : 

"Nearly  all  the  testimony  introduced  by  the  defend- 
ants was  testimony  which  was  produced,  manufactured 
and  created  after  complainant  had  introduced  his  case 
in  chief,  and  for  the  sole  purpose  and  object  in  view 
of  meeting  and  defeating,  if  possible,  the  testimony  in 
chief  offered  by  the  complainant.  It  was  not  a  fair  in- 
vestigation of  the  facts  in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley,  but  an 


208  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

investigation  of  the  testimony  offered  by  the  complain- 
ant, with  a  view  of  meeting  it. 

"These  several  continuances  were  granted  defend- 
ants, as  will  be  shown  by  the  record,  without  any  legal 
showing  whatever  as  to  what  witnesses  they  expected 
to  produce,  what  these  witnesses  would  testify  to,  what 
diligence,  if  any,  had  been  used  by  the  defendants  in 
securing  their  attendance." 

In  an  affidavit  filed  by  the  attorneys  for  the  farmers, 
and  undisputed  by  the  defendant,  in  endeavoring  to  pre- 
vent further  delays,  the  combine  was  openly  charged 
with  protracting  the  case  for  the  purpose  of  wearing 
out  the  farmers ;  and  it  was  shown  that  the  lay  witnesses 
put  on  the  stand  afterwards  were  available  when  de- 
fendants first  asked  for  postponements.  The  trial  lasted 
over  a  year,  and  the  record  of  evidence  was  described 
as  the  greatest  in  the  history  of  litigation.  The  master 
in  chancery  took  nearly  a  year  in  which  to  make  cer- 
tain proposed  findings.  It  was  then  January,  1908.  The 
trial  court  had  the  case  till  April  26,  1909,  when  the 
judge  gave  his  decision. 

Eleven  days  before  the  farmers  in  Montana  filed  their 
suit  against  the  copper  combine,  farmers  in  the  Salt 
Lake  valley  in  Utah  filed  a  similar  suit  in  the  federal 
court  in  that  state  against  smelter  companies  that  were 
injuring  them  in  exactly  the  same  way.  The  Utah  suit 
passed  through  the  trial  court,  the  circuit  court  of  ap- 
peals, and  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States,  and 
was  forever  ended  in  December,  1907.  This  was  before 
the  plaintiffs  in  the  Montana  suit  had  even  the  master's 
report  in  their  case,  notwithstanding  that  these  plain- 
tiffs were  urging  haste  and  complaining  of  delay  al- 
most throughout  the  proceedings.  It  was  through  the 
application   of  the   corporation  that  the  hearing  of  this 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  209 

farmer's  case  was  referred  to  a  master  in  chancery,  and 
against  strenuous  objection  by  the  plaintiffs,  who  alleged 
they  were  convinced  that  such  proceeding  would  open 
the  way  to  abuses  that  followed,  in  delays,  in  a  great 
mass  of  non-essential  testimony,  and  consumption  of 
time  by  the  master  in  making  findings  which  were  after- 
wards disregarded  by  Judge  Hunt  so  far  as  opinion  was 
concerned,  the  court  making  original  findings  and  judg- 
ment for  himself.  Any  attempt  to  review  the  library  of 
testimony  built  up  in  this  case  would  be  as  irrelevant 
to  this  history  as  it  was  to  the  disposition  of  the  case  by 
the  honorable  courts. 

In  his  decision  in  January,  1909,  Judge  Hunt  denied 
the  right  of  the  farmers  to  use  of  the  power  of  injunc- 
tion, but  he  recognized  and  stated  the  fact  that  injury 
had  been  done  and  that  it  was  competent  for  a  court  of 
equity  to  call  for  further  proceedings  and  addi- 
tional evidence  to  determine  what  measure  of  re- 
lief should  be  furnished,  and  what  action  by 
the  court  should  be  taken  to  secure  it.  He  is- 
sued an  order  retaining  jurisdiction  in  the  case 
for  the  purpose  of  receiving  further  evidence  regarding 
the  possibility  of  instituting  a  plant  at  the  smelter  that 
would  eliminate  the  arsenic,  and  stop  the  damage,  which 
he  had  judicially  determined  had  been  in  process  of  do- 
ing since  the  suit  was  started  six  years  before.  After 
taking  this  evidence,  furnished  mostly  by  employees  of 
the  combine,  Judge  Hunt  determined  that  it  did  not 
furnish  the  court  with  basis  for  an  order  requiring  alter- 
ations at  the  smelter,  and  dismissed  the  suit,  adjudging 
each  party  to  the  action  entitled  to  pay  his  own  costs. 
In  substance  and  effect  Judge  Hunt's  decision  was  that 
an  injunction  to  close  the  smelter  would  not  be  granted 
because  the  suspension  of  the  smelter  would  inflict  more 


210  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

injury  upon  society  than  the  principles  governing  the 
administration  of  equity  would  permit  a  court  to  cause 
in  such  circumstances ;  that  plaintiff  had  sought  the 
wrong  remedy  and  should  seek  relief  by  a  suit  for  dam- 
ages against  the  combine  in  civil  action.  This  meant, 
in  effect,  if  not  in  the  opinion  of  the  court,  that  it  was 
reasonable  to  assume  that  the  combine  would  abandon 
the  use  of  $10,000,000  worth  of  property  in  Anaconda, 
as  well  as  nearly  ten  times  as  much  more  in  Butte,  by 
court  injunction  rather  than  to  pay  less  than  $1,000,000 
in  equitable  settlement  of  damages  imposed  by  it  upon 
citizens  of  the  state  through  the  operations  of  its  works. 
It  meant  also  that  the  farmers  of  the  Deer  Lodge  valley 
who  resided  there  must  seek  their  relief  in  state  court 
from  judges  and  jurors  who  alike  owed  their  employ- 
ment to  combine  sufferance  or  suffrages.  It  also  meant 
that  despite  guarantee  of  both  federal  and  state  consti- 
tutions against  private  property  being  taken  or  damaged 
for  public  use  without  just  compensation,  such  property 
might  be  so  taken  with  authority  of  courts  of  equity  in 
consideration  of  the  welfare  of  the  greater  number  of 
people  who  might  be  injured  if  a  lawless  combine  should 
chose  to  punish  itself  with  loss  of  millions  in  preference 
to  doing  justice,  to  those  whom  it  had  wronged,  by  the 
payment  of  less  than  a  million  for  property  which  it 
had  damaged  or  destroyed. 

There  were  incidents  in  this  litigation  luminant  of 
combine  methods  and  resources  in  curing  plain  citizens 
of  appetite  for  justice  through  court  decisions.  While 
about  one  hundred  farmers  were  interested,  and  possibly 
half  of  them  were  impoverished  through  these  proceed- 
ings, Mr.  Bliss  of  Idaho  was  the  only  party  plaintiff  of 
record.  The  testimony  of  Dr.  Warren,  one  of  the  pro- 
prietors of  the   state  hospital   for  the   insane,   operated 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  211 

under  contract  with  the  state,  shows  that  John  D.  Ryan, 
head  of  the  combine,  sent  Dr.  Warren  secretly  to  Idaho 
to  buy  Bliss  out  and  thus  end  with  defeat  the  farmers' 
action  after  they  had  spent  a  great  sum  for  costs  in  an 
effort  to  get  the  matter  litigated.  Mr.  Warren  testified 
that  he  did  not  inform  Bliss  who  he  was  buying  the 
place  for  but  that  he  did  ask  him  to  fix  a  price,  and  that 
he  did  not  know  how  Mr.  Ryan  came  to  send  him  down 
there.  It  is  incidentally  interesting  here  to  mention  the 
fact  that  in  the  legislative  session  of  1911  in  Montana, 
combine  influences  were  actively  involved  in  an  attempt 
to  sell  this  insane  asylum  property  to  the  state,  together 
with  a  great  tract  of  land  in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley,  the 
price  to  the  state  for  the  land  being  fixed  at  almost  three 
times  that  asked  by  the  farmers  for  their  land;  notwith- 
standing that  the  greater  part  of  this  asylum  land  had  its 
title  clouded  with  an  easement  to  the  copper  combine 
against  all  claims  for  damages,  past,  present  or  prospec- 
tive, from  pollution  of  soil,  air  or  water,  from  smelter 
operations. 

Naturally  the  newspapers  published  by  or  in  combine 
interest  would  and  did  approve  and  confirm,  Judge 
Hunt's  wobbling  decision.  They  did  more.  They  ac- 
cepted it  as  final  and  eternal.  The  Butte  Intermountain, 
published  and  edited  under  the  personal  direction  of 
John  D.  Ryan,  started  its  able  editorial  on  the  subject 
with  the  phrase,  "In  writing  the  final  chapter  of  the  cele- 
brated 'smoke'  case  today".  The  learned  editor  of  The 
Anaconda  Standard,  more  indirectly  employed  in  the 
same  service,  closed  his  able  editorial  on  Judge  Hunt's 
decision  with  this  conclusive  summary :  "The  effect  of 
yesterday's  ruling  is  to  remove  the  last  vestige  of  anxiety 
as  to  the  future  of  the  cities  of  Butte  and  Anaconda,  and 
to  relieve  all  lingering  apprehension  of  all  the  other  com- 


212  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

munities  which  are,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  depend- 
ent upon  the  defendant  companies'  operations.  This 
smoke  case  has  been  in  the  court  three  years.  (The  real 
time  was  four  years.)  It  has  involved  colossal  interests, 
it  has  entailed  enormous  expense,  it  has  attracted  na- 
tional attention.  It  is  ancient  history — a  thing  of  the 
past." 

Were  these  cocksure  press  agents  of  the  jubilant 
combine  inspired  with  intuition  or  information,  that 
they  were  enabled  to  esteem  the  trial  court  as  the  court 
of  last  resort  in  federal  practice?  The  reader  has  been 
advised  how  this  unprecedented  record  of  a  trial  was 
made  up.  He  should  know  why  it  was  made  up.  The 
resources  of  the  majority  of  the  farmers  undoubtedly 
had  been  exhausted  by  court  expenses,  with  continuing 
damage  to  crops  and  stocks  from  smelter  operations, 
during  four  years  of  legal  combat  with  the  combine.  Not 
all  of  them  were  bankrupt.  The  leader  in  the  fight,  in 
strength  of  courage  as  well  as  finance,  was  Mr.  N.  J. 
Bielenberg,  one  of  the  pioneer  stockmen  of  the  state, 
one  of  the  earlier  settlers  in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley,  and 
one  whose  interests  and  resources  were  not  confined  to 
his  big  ranch  in  the  valley.  He  desired  something  more 
specific  and  definite  on  the  merits  of  his  claim  than  the 
decision  of  Judge  Hunt  appears  to  be  to  him.  He  pro- 
posed to  take  an  appeal.  Facts  obtained  from  the  clerk 
of  the  federal  court  for  the  district  of  Montana  revealed 
that  the  cost  of  appeal  in  the  matter  of  fees  had  been 
practically  doubled  by  congressional  action  the  year 
before,  by  the  enactment  of  a  little  bill,  promoted  by 
.Senator  Thomas  H.  Carter,  for  the  nominal  purpose  of 
equalizing  such  fees  in  northwestern  states.  Where  the 
former  fee  for  making  a  transcript  had  been  fifteen 
cents  per  folio  or  forty-five  cents  per  page,  it  was  now 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  213 

thirty  cents  per  folio  or  ninety  cents  per  page,  allowed 
to  the  clerk  for  making  such  transcript  and  certifying  it 
to  the  higher  court.  This  court  official  estimated  that 
the  testimony  in  the  case  of  the  Deer  Lodge  valley 
farmers  would  make  approximately  30,000  pages, 
amounting  in  round  numbers  to  $27,000  for  the  tran- 
script. In  the  court  of  appeals,  according  to  law  as  ex- 
plained by  the  court  official,  the  clerk  shall  receive  one 
dollar  per  page  for  printing  such  transcript  and  twenty- 
five  cents  per  page  for  supervising  the  work.  It  was, 
therefore,  reasonably  reckoned  by  the  court  official  that 
the  making  and  printing  of  the  transcript  of  record  in 
the  case  of  Farmer  vs.  Combine  would  cost  between 
$60,000  and  $75,000.  Possibly  there  was  only  coin- 
cidence of  this  increased  cost  of  appeal  and  the  prema- 
ture assurance  of  combine  organ  editors  that  the  de- 
cision in  the  trial  court  ended  the  smoke  case  for  all 
time. 

The  attorneys  for  the  farmers  went  before  the  court 
of  appeals  in  San  Francisco  with  a  motion  for  an  order 
directing  the  clerk  of  the  district  court  in  Montana  to 
transmit  with  certification  the  original  record  in  the 
case,  with  statement  of  the  facts  showing  that  such 
order  would  impose  no  hardship  upon  anyone,  that  the 
charge  of  thirty  cents  per  folio  for  transcribing  such  an 
enormous  record  was  excessive  when  the  same  services 
could  be  obtained  for  five  cents  per  folio ;  and  the  higher 
court,  after  due  consideration  of  the  subject,  issued  the 
order  and  made  it  possible  for  the  farmers  to  appeal 
their  case  at  a  cost  of  less  than  $40,000  for  a  perfected 
record  of  the  testimony  and  proceedings. 

Few  influences  which  could  be  enlisted  to  create  pub- 
lic sentiment,  to  impress  public  officials,  or  to  embarrass 
the    plaintiffs,    were    neglected    during    all    these    many 


214  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

years  devoted  to  wearing  out  this  community  of  farmers 
who  had  temerity  to  beard  a  combine  in  court.  The 
menace  of  a  shutdown,  the  danger  of  want,  if  not  star- 
vation, to  many  thousands  in  widely  scattered  parts  of 
Montana,  was  a  favored  and  well  exploited  argument 
for  this  as  well  as  other  emergencies.  If  we  may  be- 
lieve the  decision,  this  had  profound  weight  with  the 
honorable  trial  court.  Less  serious  to  the  public,  amus- 
ing to  most  people  with  sense  of  humor,  and  very  expen- 
sive to  the  combine,  was  the  attempt  to  demonstrate  the 
agricultural  prosperity  of  Deer  Lodge  county  by  county 
fairs  in  the  smelter  town,  under  combine  auspices  and 
management,  and  chiefly  with  combine  exhibits.  The 
following  quite  accurate  report  of  the  annual  Deer  Lodge 
county  fair  in  September,  1910,  is  entitled  to  place  in 
any  comical  history  of  Montana,  and  therefore  is  pre- 
sented : 

"The  Amalgamated  Copper  Company's  annual  Deer- 
Lodge  County  fair  has  been  in  session  this  week,  and 
as  a  general  exhibit  of  monumental  buncombe  the  giant 
trust's  own  private  little  exposition  is  the  same  proud 
success  it  has  been  ever  since  the  first  year  when  Mr. 
E.  P.  Mathewson,  Mr.  Martin  Martin,  and  other  gentle- 
men who  lean  to  the  interest  of  that  corporation,  foisted 
it  upon  a  local  public  so  enfeebled  by  long  intimidation 
that  it  has  been  incapable  of  protest.  As  customary  the 
exclusive  exhibitor  on  its  own  merits  and  for  its  own 
independent  benefit  is  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Com- 
pany of  New  Jersey.  Of  course  there  are  other  exhibitors 
who  have  lent  their  names  and  services  to  the  trust, 
among  these  the  State  Insane  Asylum,  an  institution 
supported  by  the  commonwealth  under  contract,  but 
which  the  copper  corporation  finds  eminently  service- 
able in  this  connection.     The  farmers  of  the  devastated 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  215 

Deer  Lodge  valley  do  not  take  part  in  this  travesty; 
the  smoke  fumes  have  not  left  them  the  crops  with 
which  to  participate  in  the  game  properly,  and  of  course 
they  do  not  care  to  dance  at  their  own  funeral. 

"The  Amalgamated  Copper  company  conducted  its 
fair  this  year  in  precisely  the  manner  in  which  it  runs 
its  smelters  and  other  affairs — through  its  agents.  The 
directors  of  the  trust's  fair  are  the  company's  men, 
namely,  Mr.  E.  P.  Mathewson,  superintendent  of  the 
smelter;  A.  C.  McCallum,  Anaconda,  merchant,  who  has 
admitted  that  he  conducts  his  business  under  awe  of 
and  by  grace  of  the  company;  E.  J.  Bowman,  the  com- 
pany's banker;  John  Lawlor,  coroner  and  undertaker 
and  agent  for  the  company's  cemetery ;  W.  E.  Coleman, 
chief  clerk  in  the  company's  electric  light  department. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  company  has  a  cemetery  as 
well  as  a  fair  and  smelter.  The  trust's  agents  ran  the 
fair;  the  trust's  newspaper,  the  Anaconda  Standard,  ad- 
vertised and  praised  it ;  the  trust's  agents  collected  and 
submitted  exhibits  and  won  prizes;  and  the  trust's  dog, 
if  it  has  one,  probably  wagged  its  tail  with  canine  satis- 
faction at  the  entire  exhibit  of  cool  corporation  depravity 
and  deceit.  There  are  no  real  farmers  in  the  board  of 
control,  and  there  never  have  been.  The  fair,  like  the 
smelter,  is  an  exclusive  industry  devoted  purely  to  the 
interests  of  the  combine.  Consequently  the  operating 
machinery  is  kept  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  latter. 
The  copper  combine  spends  money  on  this  county  fair, 
and  the  structure  it  erects  annually  with  shipped-in  live- 
stock, pickled  grains  and  grasses  secured  from  many 
localities  at  great  expense  and  kept  over  from  year  to 
year,  and  stolen  vegetable  specimens  rifled  from  the 
"smoke-farmers' "  gardens  and  the  hand-cultured  city 
lots    of    Anaconda    by    night    is    so    shaky,    flimsy    and 


216  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

plastered  over  with  easily  detected  lies  and  frauds  that 
prying  eyes  must  be  kept  entirely  off  the  'works'.  It 
might  be  a  risky  business  to  let  an  impartial  person  act 
even  as  spectator. 

"The  farmers  of  the  Deer  Lodge  valley  do  not  exhibit 
at  the  smelter  company's  fair  because  the  smelter  has 
partially  or  wholly  ruined  their  farms,  and  because  the 
fair  was  established  and  is  maintained  by  the  smelter 
company  for  its  own  sinister  purpose  and  not  to  encour- 
age farming  in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley.  After  the  effec- 
tive discouragement  to  which  it  has  subjected  such 
farming  with  its  smelter,  the  pretense  that  this  fair  is 
to  encourage  farming  would  be  a  joke  if  it  were  not 
such  a  job. 

"The  ways  the  Amalgamated  Copper  company  runs 
this  little  fair  are  worth  considering  by  the  people  of 
Montana — at  least  that  part  of  them  that  care  anything 
for  honesty,  a  square  deal,  or  the  rights  of  men.  The 
purpose  of  an  honest  county  agricultural  fair  is  to  show 
what  the  county  produces  in  agriculture  and  livestock. 
The  purpose  of  this  monopolistic  exposition  is  to  cheat 
the  public  into  the  belief  that  the  Washoe  smelter  has 
not  injured  the  farms  of  the  Deer  Lodge  valley.  As  in 
previous  years,  this  year  the  combine  has  spent  large 
sums  to  set  up  before  the  eyes  of  the  people  the  usual 
sham  and  fraud.  The  smelter  fair  is  a  contemporary  of 
the  smelter  experimental  station  which  was  established 
for  use  in  the  smoke  case.  It  was  located  by  the  copper 
corporation  on  ground  in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley  called 
Section  Sixteen,  a  part  of  the  thousands  of  acres  the 
trust  owns.  The  smelter  people  established  it  in  1905, 
to  show  a  court  what  the  smelter  could  grow  and  raise 
in  spite  of  the  smoke,  and  the  fair  was  started  about  the 
same  time  by  the  smelter  agents.     Prior  to  this  time, 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  217 

before  smelter  smoke  had  destroyed  the  agricultural 
and  livestock  industries  of  the  Deer  Lodge  valley,  the 
farmers  of  the  valley  desired  to  hold  a  fair,  and  peti- 
tioned the  county  commissioners  to  appropriate  for  the 
fair's  use  $1,000,  authorized  by  a  new  law.  Mr.  Martin 
Martin  was  chairman  of  the  commissioners'  board,  also 
private  secretary  of  Mr.  E.  P.  Mathewson,  superinten- 
dent of  the  works.  The  trust  did  not  need  a  fair  then, 
and  Mr.  Martin  said  a  fair  would  be  absurd,  and  he  and 
his  fellow  commissioners  refused  the  farmers  the  money. 
In  1905,  under  instructions  from  the  company,  the  com- 
missioners hastened  to  appropriate  a  thousand  dollars  for 
the  purpose,  Mr.  Martin  Martin  still  holding  both  his 
jobs.  First,  the  smelter  company  refused  to  let  the 
farmers  have  back  any  of  their  tax  money  for  a  fair  for 
themselves;  now  the  trust  takes  the  farmers'  tax  money 
and  uses  it  for  an  exposition  of  its  own,  to  injure  the 
farmers  in  litigation. 

"But  the  tax  money  isn't  a  drop  in  the  bucket,  com- 
paratively, for  this  trust  fair  is  expensive.  The  com- 
pany agents  are  good  managers,  and  they  contrive  to 
make  the  people  of  Anaconda  contribute  substantially 
to  the  fair  fund.  This  year  the  company  postponed  the 
fair  to  agree  with  the  race  meet,  and  its  agents  on  oc- 
casion pass  through  the  big  smelting  works  with  fair 
tickets  for  the  employees  to  purchase,  and  the  employees 
purchase  them  because  it  is  wise  to  do  so  if  they  would 
retain  their  employment.  The  side  lights  on  the  copper 
trust's  exposition  expose  the  nature  of  its  most  profit- 
able 'farming'. 

"The  most  arduous  labor  involved  in  creating  the 
meretricious  smelter  show  called  the  Deer  Lodge  county 
fair  is  connected  with  obtaining  the  exhibits.  The 
smoke  from  the  smelter  having  withered  the  farms,  des- 


218  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

troyed  the  livestock,  and  generally  paralyzed  the  agri- 
cultural and  stock  raising  industries  of  the  Deer  Lodge 
valley,  the  copper  trust  has  undertaken  to  farm  some 
itself,  primarily  to  'show'  a  court,  and  secondarily  to 
furnish  exhibits  for  its  fraudulent  exposition  as  a  foun- 
dation for  state  fair  exploitation.  The  whole  undertak- 
ing has  been  a  most  expensive  venture  in  agriculture, 
and  while  the  combine  may  have  succeeded  in  its  first 
purpose,  it  has  dismally  failed  in  the  second.  Some  of 
the  details  of  its  farming  and  exhibit  collecting  are  worth 
relating.  The  experimental  farm  on  Section  Sixteen  con- 
tained 80  acres,  and  the  copper  farmers  spent  $2,000  try- 
ing to  raise  a  mixed  crop  of  oats  and  grass  on  it  for  four 
years,  finally  getting  some  hay  which  cost  it  $200  a  ton. 
The  foreman  of  the  farm  testified  in  court  to  the  cost  of 
this  farming,  and  actual  measurement  of  the  hay  pro- 
duced showed  there  was  but  ten  tons.  This  hay  might 
properly  have  been  exhibited  at  the  smelter  fair  in  a  glass 
case,  and  labeled  'Costliest  Hay  Ever  Raised'.  Once,  be- 
fore the  smelter  got  this  magnificent  crop,  the  grass  and 
oats  got  up  four  inches  and  then  were  wiped  out  by  the 
smelter  smoke.  Farmers  who  were  not  smelter  agents 
dug  down  under  the  withered  tops  and  found  the  roots 
of  the  grass  and  grain  alive  and  the  ground  moist,  and 
they  say  these  roots  would  make  a  true  exhibit  of  what 
the  Deer  Lodge  valley  now  produces.  After  it  raised 
this  hay  crop  the  smelter  people  scattered  grass  and 
grain  growing  experiments  among  its  other  farms  in 
the  valley,  and  while  some  of  its  witnesses  in  the  smoke 
case  testified  that  its  fields  'looked  well',  it  has  never 
threshed  a  pound  of  grain. 

"The  company's  method  of  handling  livestock  and 
the  results  of  its  venture  in  the  livestock  business  have 
duplicated   those  of   its   farming   enterprise.     The  trust 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  219 

owns  8,000  acres  of  low  lands,  largely  natural  meadow 
lands,  and  in  1905  it  bought  100  head  of  cattle.  There 
were  no  animals  at  all  on  these  princely  acres,  although 
once  thousands  of  cattle  and  horses  ranged  the  valley. 
Nevertheless,  the  copper  combine  kept  its  100  head  of 
stock  on  hay  lands,  pasturing  them  in  the  summer  sea- 
son on  land  that  cost  $25  an  acre.  These  lands,  when 
farmed  by  farmers  who  have  to  make  a  profit  and  can- 
not make  expensive  experiments  for  fair  exhibits,  court 
purposes,  or  otherwise,  were  used  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  hay.  The  copper  combine  also  bought  a  band 
of  three-year-old  steers  for  $33  per  head  in  the  fall  of 
1906.  It  kept  these  animals  a  year,  and  then  sold  them 
for  $30  a  head,  realizing  a  net  loss  of  $3  a  head  and  a 
year's  keep,  notwithstanding  prices  for  cattle  were 
twenty-five  per  cent,  higher  at  that  time  than  when  the 
steers  were  bought.  As  a  concluding  instance  of  the 
copper  company's  achievements  in  the  Deer  Lodge  val- 
ley its  experience  with  the  French  Crossing  ranch  caps 
the  climax.  In  1906-7  the  combine  expended  about  $30,- 
000  improving  the  lands,  erecting  buildings,  excavating 
ditches  and  the  like  on  this  place,  for  smoke  case  pur- 
poses, yet  when  it  closed  down  this  work  and  under- 
took to  rent  the  ranch  the  best  rental  it  could  obtain  was 
$300  a  year. 

"In  obtaining  material  with  which  to  fashion  its  Deer 
Lodge  county  fair  the  copper  company  has  had  even  a 
more  disgusting  and  miserable  career.  In  order  to  get 
agricultural  exhibits  it  has  sent  its  hired  men  out  over 
the  valley  to  pick  up  bunches  of  good  looking  grass  and 
grain  wherever  they  could  find  them.  Of  course  the  smoke 
does  not  take  every  bit  of  vegetation  clean,  so  this 
was  not  difficult.  However,  the  exhibit  collectors  had  to 
work  at  night  as  well  as  in  the  daytime,  and  were  obliged 


220  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

to  take  many  samples  surreptitiously  from  the  lands  of 
farmers  who  strenuously  objected  to  the  confidence 
game  being  rigged.  These  cribbed  exhibits  were  not 
entered  in  the  names  of  the  farmers  openly,  yet  after  the 
fair  was  over,  several  of  the  farmers  received  checks  for 
premiums  and  prizes  awarded  them,  which  they  indig- 
nantly returned  to  the  combine.  The  colossal  effrontery 
of  the  smelter  management  is  exhibited  by  the  addition 
of  this  insult  to  the  ruinous  injury  it  has  imposed  upon 
its  victims  in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley.  One  award  made 
was  a  first  prize  for  macaroni  wheat  to  Matt  Smith,  a 
farmer.  Smith  had  two  acres  of  wheat,  and  his  entire 
crop  consisted  of  fifteen  bushels  of  wheat.  This  wheat 
crop  no  doubt  beat  the  copper  trust's  ten  tons  of  hay, 
however.  The  copper  corporation's  tools  also  filched 
exhibits  from  gardens  and  vegetable  patches,  and  the 
combine  generously  gave  one  lady  a  first  premium  for 
a  handful  of  flax  which  she  had  sown  in  her  garden,  and 
which  represented  the  entire  acreage  of  flax  on  the  ranch. 
The  company  got  a  bunch  of  redtop  hay  from  the  Bliss 
ranch  and  entered  it  at  the  fair  without  the  knowledge 
of  Bliss  or  his  tenants.  This  sample  looked  fine,  yet  it 
represented  a  crop  that  produced  less  than  forty  tons 
of  hay  on  320  acres  of  land.  The  combine  awarded  one 
man  a  prize  for  red  clover  hay  although  he  had  never 
raised  a  pound  of  red  clover  hay  on  his  place.  It  like- 
wise put  a  blue  ribbon  on  an  exhibit  plucked  in  Powell 
county.  It  took  a  lot  of  labor  and  money  for  the  com- 
bine to  equip  itself  with  fair  exhibits,  and  therefore  it 
had  those  secured  for  the  fair  in  1905  taken  to  the  court- 
house to  a  room  assigned  to  it  by  the  county  commis- 
sioners, and  there  skilled  employees  picked  off  every 
burned  or  blasted  leaf  and  straightened  out  every  spear 
and  stock,  tied  red,  white  and  blue  ribbons  on  them,  and 


THE    CASE    OF    FARMER    VS.    COMBINE  221 

laid  them  carefully  away  for  future  fairs.  Thereafter 
they  appeared  annually  at  all  Deer  Lodge  county  fairs 
and  all  state  fairs,  and  once  more  will  make  their  bow 
this  year  at  the  copper  farmers'  annual  exposition." 

In  March,  1911,  the  circuit  court  of  appeals  at  San 
Francisco  affirmed  Judge  Hunt's  decision  given  two 
years  before.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  because  it  is 
the  truth,  which  cannot  affect  adversely  any  honest  in- 
terest or  cause  or  court,  that  after  six  years  of  strenuous 
conflict  between  the  farmers  and  the  combine,  there  has 
been  no  judicial  adjudication  of  this  matter  so  far  as  the 
merits  of  the  real  issues  between  the  parties  to  action 
are  concerned.  The  honorable  courts  have  decided  that 
the  operations  of  the  smelters  cause  damage  to  the  prop- 
erty of  the  farmers,  and  that  it  is  a  continuing  damage, 
but  that  as  to  the  plaintiff,  Bliss,  the  remedy  he  sought 
through  all  these  tedious  and  costly  court  proceedings, 
with  the  consent  and  under  the  direction  of  the  judges, 
was  not  the  right  remedy  in  law  and  that  his  relief  must 
be  found  by  new  and  other  proceedings;  with  no  assur- 
ance that  they  would  be  less  prolonged  or  less  expensive; 
while  as  to  the  other  farmers  injured,  they  of  course 
have  had  no  standing  at  all  in  court  at  any  time.  With- 
out the  obstinate  determination  of  Mr.  Bielenberg,  and 
without  large  resources  in  real  money  which  he  realized 
in  successful  enterprise  apart  from  farming  in  the  Deer 
Lodge  valley,  and  without  persistent  integrity  of  plain- 
tiff's attorneys,  Messrs.  R.  L.  Clinton  and  C.  M.  Sawyer, 
the  litigation  certainly  would  have  ended  in  earlier  and 
cheaper  triumph  for  combine  management.  Mr.  Clinton 
was  an  attorney  in  Butte,  and  Mr.  Sawyer  in  Anaconda. 
What  each  has  been  compelled  to  resist  in  abuse,  in  ridi- 
cule, in  loss  of  business,  and  in  temptation,  in  combine- 
ruled  communities,  entitles  them  to  recognition  as  his- 
torical if  not  heroic  characters. 


"A  Constitution  Between  Friends'* — State 

Laws  to  Legalize   Lawless 

Interstate  Combines 

When  Montana  was  admitted  to  statehood,  the  busi- 
ness of  destroying  competition  by  the  corporate  trust  or 
combination  had  not  extended  far  beyond  the  manage- 
ment of  railways.  "Standard  Oil",  which  later  furnished 
the  manipulators  and  the  money,  as  well  as  the  model, 
for  most  of  these  enterprises,  had  not  reached  that  de- 
gree of  perfection  in  monopoly  which  later  enabled  its 
directors  to  exact  from  the  public  annually,  in  profits 
on  a  common  necessity,  as  much  or  more  than  the  capi- 
tal invested  in  the  business;  but  Mr.  Rockefeller  and  his 
imitators  had  become  rich  enough,  and  their  competitors 
along  independent  lines  of  enterprise  had  become  poor 
enough,  to  cause  a  quite  general  apprehension  of  the 
evils  and  dangers  in  unrestrained  corporate  power.  Evi- 
dently this  fear  had  penetrated  to  the  comparative  wil- 
derness of  the  intermountain  country  of  the  west,  and 
the  people  who  framed  and  adopted  the  constitution  of 
Montana  used  their  best  knowledge  and  efforts  to  safe- 
guard the  state  against  these  dangers.  Besides  stringent 
prohibitions  and  limitations  for  the  regulation  and  con- 
trol of  railway  companies,  the  constitution  contains,  in 
Article  XV.,  treating  of  "Corporations  Other  Than  Mu- 
nicipal", the  following  specific  and  significant  pro- 
visions : 

"Sec.  3.  The  legislative  assembly  shall  have  the 
power  to  alter,  revoke  or  annul  any  charter  of  incor- 

[223] 


224  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

poration  existing  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this 
constitution,  or  which  may  be  hereafter  incorporated, 
whenever  in  its  opinion  it  may  be  injurious  to  the  citi- 
zens of  the  state." 

"Sec.  9.  The  right  of  eminent  domain  shall  never 
be  abridged,  nor  so  construed  as  to  prevent  the  Legisla- 
tive Assembly  from  taking  the  property  and  franchises 
of  incorporated  companies  and  subjecting  them  to  public 
use  the  same  as  the  property  of  individuals ;  and  the 
police  powers  of  the  state  shall  never  be  abridged,  or  so 
construed,  as  to  permit  corporations  to  conduct  their 
business  in  such  manner  as  to  infringe  the  equal  rights 
of  individuals,  or  the  general  well-being  of  the  state." 

"Sec.  10.  No  corporation  shall  issue  stocks  or  bonds, 
except  for  labor  done,  services  performed,  or  money  and 
property  actually  received ;  and  all  fictitious  increase  ot 
stock  or  indebtedness  shall  be  void.  The  stock  of  cor- 
porations shall  not  be  increased  except  in  pursuance  of 
general  law,  nor  without  the  consent  of  the  persons  hold- 
ing a  majority  of  the  stock  first  obtained  at  a  meeting 
held  after  at  least  thirty  days  notice  given  in  pursuance 
of  law." 

"Sec.  11.  No  foreign  corporation  shall  do  any  busi- 
ness in  this  state  without  having  one  or  more  known 
places  of  business,  and  an  authorized  agent  or  agents 
in  the  same,  upon  whom  process  may  be  served.  And 
no  company  or  corporation  formed  under  the  laws  of 
any  other  country,  state  or  territory,  shall  have,  or  be 
allowed  to  exercise,  or  enjoy  within  this  state,  any 
greater  rights  or  privileges  than  those  possessed  or  en- 
joyed by  corporations  of  the  same  or  similar  character 
created  under  the  laws  of  the  state." 

"Sec.  13.  The  Itgislative  assembly  shall  pass  no  law 
for  the  benefit  of  a  railroad  or  other  corporation,  or  any 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  225 

individual  or  association  of  individuals,  retrospective  in 
its  operation,  or  which  imposes  on  the  people  of  any 
county  or  municipal  subdivision  of  the  state  a  new  liabil- 
ity in  respect  to  transactions  or  considerations  already 
passed." 

"Sec.  16.  It  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  person,  com- 
pany or  corporation,  to  require  of  its  servants  or  em- 
ployees, as  a  condition  of  their  employment  or  otherwise, 
any  contract  or  agreement  whereby  such  persons,  com- 
pany or  corporation,  shall  be  released  or  discharged 
from  liability  or  responsibility  on  account  of  personal 
injuries  received  by  such  servants  or  employees  while  in 
the  service  of  such  person,  company  or  corporation,  by 
reason  of  the  negligence  of  such  person,  company  or 
corporation,  or  the  agents  or  employees  thereof,  and  such 
contract  shall  be  absolutely  null  and  void." 

"Sec.  20.  No  incorporation,  stock  company,  person 
or  association  of  persons  in  the  State  of  Montana,  shall 
directly  combine,  or  form  what  is  know  as  a  trust,  or 
make  any  contract  with  any  person  or  persons,  corpor- 
ations, or  stock  company,  foreign  or  domestic,  through 
their  stockholders,  trustees,  or  in  any  manner  whatever, 
for  the  purpose  of  fixing  the  price,  or  regulating  the  pro- 
duction of  any  article  of  commerce,  or  of  the  product  of 
the  soil,  for  consumption  by  the  people.  The  Legislative 
Assembly  shall  pass  laws  for  the  enforcement  thereof  by 
adequate  penalties  to  the  extent,  if  necessary  for  that 
purpose,  of  the  forfeiture  of  their  property  and  franchises, 
and  in  case  of  foreign  corporations  prohibiting  them  from 
carrying  on  business  in  the  state." 

Obviously  the  framers  of  that  constitution  believed 
that  they  had  taken  every  necessary  precaution  against 
monopoly  combines,  watered  stocks,  special  privileges, 
public  abuses,  swindling  of  stockholders,  or  juggling  of 


226  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

laws  by  corporations,  domestic  and  foreign.  Reading 
these  mandates  now,  in  the  customary  meaning  of  plain 
language,  they  appear  adequate  for  their  unmistakable 
purpose.  Yet  there  is  not  one  of  those  constitutional 
provisions  or  inhibitions  which  has  not  been  violated, 
evaded  or  ignored,  by  the  organizers  or  operators  of  the 
corporate  combine  in  its  conquest  of  the  state.  The  laws 
of  Montana  in  the  special  interests  of  this  combine,  by 
the  powers  of  its  corrupt  influences,  have  been  changed 
to  give  it  legal  standing  for  its  lawless  enterprises  and 
to  provide  it  with  a  refuge  and  defense  against  national, 
as  well  as  state,  prohibitions  or  prosecutions  to  prevent 
or  punish  monopolies  or  combinations  in  restraint  of 
trade  or  commerce.  The  constitution  of  Montana  has 
become  "a  constitution  between  friends". 

In  anticipation  of  the  organization  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Copper  Company  under  the  laws  of  New  Jersey, 
and  as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  its  purposed  opera- 
tions in  Montana,  the  legislature  of  1899  was  induced 
to  so  amend  the  statute  laws  as  to  permit  a  certain  ma- 
jority of  the  stockholders  of  a  mining  company  to  sell  it 
to  another  company  engaged  in  the  same  business,  al- 
most regardless  of  rights  or  wishes  of  minority  stock- 
holders. That  was  the  legislature  which  involved  the 
state  in  great  scandal  by  its  disposition  of  a  seat  in  the 
United  States  senate.  There  was  much  opposition  to 
the  bill,  and  when  first  passed  it  was  vetoed  by  Governor 
Robert  Smith.  The  arguments  used  to  convince  mem- 
bers, while  that  measure  was  under  consideration,  are 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  during  the  investigation  of  the 
senatorial  election  in  Washington,  Representative  John 
H.  Geiger,  of  Flathead  county,  in  trying  to  account  for 
currency  bills  of  large  denominations  in  his  possession 
subsequent    to    the    legislative    session,    and    which    he 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  227 

thought  had  been  thrown  through  the  transom  over  the 
door  to  his  room,  testified  that  he  had  an  idea  at  the  time 
that  there  might  be  some  connection  between  his  find- 
ing the  money  in  the  room  and  the  efforts  being  made 
for  and  against  this  corporation  bill.  With  or  without 
the  corrupting  of  Mr.  Geiger,  the  bill  became  a  law.  The 
Amalgamated  Copper  Company  became  a  holding  com- 
pany and  acquired  controlling  interest  or  complete  own- 
ership and  management  of  various  large  and  valuable 
competing  mining  and  smelting  companies  in  the  state 
of  Montana,  capitalized  these  properties  for  something 
more  or  less  than  twice  as  much  as  they  had  cost  the 
promoters,  who  generously  allowed  the  investing  and 
speculating  public  to  pay  for  the  purchases  while  per- 
mitting the  insiders  to  retain  control  of  the  Amalgamated 
Company,  of  the  Montana  properties,  and  of  as  much 
stock  as  they  cared  to  keep.  That  was  within  ten  years 
of  the  time  when  the  constitution  of  Montana  was 
adopted  with  its  carefully  prepared  provisions  against 
trust  organizations  and  inflated  capitalization  of  prop- 
erty through  incorporation. 

In  1907  the  copper  combine  people  had  entered  upon 
the  project  of  securing  control  of  the  incalculably  valu- 
able water  power  rights  in  the  great  rivers  of  Montana. 
One  of  the  companies,  subsequently  absorbed  by  them, 
planned  an  important  development  on  the  Missouri 
river  near  Helena.  This  company  was  organized,  like 
the  Amalgamated,  under  the  laws  of  another  state.  The 
construction  of  the  proposed  dam  necessitated  the  flood- 
ing of  a  large  land  area,  including  some  placer  mine 
properties  which  had  been  productive  in  past  years  and 
which  had  cost  the  owners  at  that  time  a  large  invest- 
ment. The  importance  of  water  rights  for  both  mining 
and  irrigation  purposes,  in  a  semi-arid  state  rich  in  min- 


228  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

eral  wealth,  had  prompted  a  constitutional  safeguard  by- 
declaring  the  use  of  water,  when  appropriated  for  sale, 
rental,  etc.,  together  with  ditches,  flumes  and  reservoir 
sites  used  in  connection  therewith,  to  be  a  public  use. 
This  water  power  company  went  into  court  and  secured 
an  appraisal  of  the  placer  lands  needed  in  its  business, 
but  the  price  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  owners  and  they 
appealed  to  the  higher  court.  While  the  action  was 
pending  and  undecided  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  leg- 
islature extending  the  right  of  eminent  domain  to  foreign 
corporations.  The  copper  combine  lobby  secured  the 
passage  of  that  bill.  The  power  company  instituted  new 
proceedings  to  condemn  the  property  for  public  use. 
The  owners  resisted  and  pleaded  the  unconstitutionality 
of  the  act.  The  supreme  court  upheld  the  law.  The 
thoughtful  framers  of  the  constitution,  in  seeking  to  pro- 
tect the  powers  of  the  state  against  corporate  powers 
and  encroachments,  had  specifically  provided  that  the 
right  of  eminent  domain  shall  never  be  abridged.  Doubt- 
less they  never  dreamed  that  a  legislature  would  be 
found  to  extend  it  for  the  benefit  of  a  foreign  corporate 
combine. 

It  remained  for  the  next  succeeding  legislature, — 
under  the  personal  command  of  Managing  Director  John 
G.  Morony  and  the  skillful  guidance  of  copper  combine 
attorneys  from  New  York  to  Butte,  with  versatile  lobby- 
ists in  and  out  of  the  seats  of  members  of  both  branches 
of  the  lawmaking  body,  with  timely  aid  and  sanction 
of  members  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state,  and  with 
executive  approval  of  a  governor  who  possessed  the  in- 
formation to  enable  him  to  know  better  but  who  lacked 
the  courage  and  integrity  to  prompt  him  to  do  better, — 
to  provide  laws  and  delegate  powers  to  corporations 
whereby  and  wherewith  the  most  insignificant  company 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  229 

in  the  control  of  the  combine  might  be  lawfully  em- 
ployed to  acquire  the  world,  pay  for  it  with  company 
stock  or  bonds,  and  own  and  operate  everything-  within 
or  upon  it  from  the  most  infinitesimal  detail  to  the  vast 
entirety.  This  legislation  was  not  secured  with  honest 
argument  or  through  legislative  ignorance  or  innocence. 
Able  and  upright  men  exposed  and  denounced  it  before 
committees  and  on  the  floors  of  both  chambers.  The 
mere  source  of  it,  the  silence  of  the  combine  press  re- 
garding it,  the  enormous  combine  lobby  gathered  at 
Helena  in  promotion  of  it,  the  palpably  false  and  ridicu- 
lously foolish  explanations  of  its  purpose  by  its  sponsors 
— any  one  of  these  should  have  been  sufficient  to  put  a 
legislator  with  ordinary  intelligence  or  a  spark  of  integ- 
rity upon  his  guard,  without  any  opposition.  The  house 
had  a  nominal  democratic  majority  and  the  senate  a 
nominal  republican  supremacy.  The  corruption  was 
non-partisan.  On  final  passage  the  senate  was  divided 
sixteen  for  the  bill  and  ten  against  it,  with  one  absent; 
in  the  house  there  were  forty-seven  ayes  and  twenty 
noes  with  four  absentees.  Some  details  are  of  interest. 
Extraordinary  activity  of  combine  influences  in  per- 
fecting the  legislative  organization,  followed  by  an  un- 
usually large  lobby  including  high  officials  of  the  com- 
bine, early  in  the  session  aroused  curiosity  regarding 
what  could  be  wanted  by  the  corporation,  which  already 
had  acquired  most  of  the  known  copper  wealth  of  the 
state,  the  best  of  the  timber  resources  of  the  state,  a 
large  part  of  the  developed  or  discovered  coal  lands  of 
the  state,  almost  all  of  the  developed  water  power  of  the 
state,  extensive  railway  interests,  most  of  the  public 
press,  and  almost  a  monopoly  of  government  powers. 
The  first  knowledge  of  the  measure  outside  of  the  com- 
bine circle  came  when  Representative  Duncan,  of  Madi- 


230  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

son  county,  was  requested  to  introduce  it  by  Mr.  Fred 
Whitesides,  a  trusted  friend  of  Amalgamated  high  of- 
ficials. Mr.  Duncan  declined  with  the  given  reason  that 
it  was  "too  dirty"  for  him.  It  was  finally  offered  by  a 
member  from  Cascade  county,  and  was  kept  out  of  sight 
and  out  of  public  discussion  for  some  time.  When  it 
was  considered  in  committee,  the  most  conspicuous  ad- 
vocates of  the  measure  were  Mr.  H.  A.  Gallwey,  an  of- 
ficial of  one  of  the  combine's  companies  and  a  leader 
of  its  legislative  lobby,  and  L.  O.  Evans  of  the  combine 
legal  department.  The  first  had  been  prominent  in 
democratic  party  conventions  and  councils  and  the  sec- 
ond played  a  similar  role  in  the  republican  party.  The 
explanation  was  that  it  was  a  little  bill  to  help  develop 
the  northern  part  of  the  state,  specifically  to  authorize 
a  townsite  company  at  Great  Falls  to  develop  water 
power  and  to  engage  in  the  hotel  business.  On  the  floor 
of  the  assembly  chamber,  Representative  Duncan  de- 
clared that  the  measure  was  iniquitous  and  designed  to 
enable  corporations  to  do  all  the  things  which  the  fed- 
eral anti-trust  statutes,  the  recommendations  of  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt,  and  the  sentiment  of  the  people  of  the 
country,  were  opposed  to  having  done. 

Before  the  bill  came  up  in  the  senate  for  action  it  was 
favorably  reported  by  the  judiciary  committee  of  that 
body  after  hearings  at  which  employees  of  the  combine 
appeared  in  its  favor,  and  was  then  committed  to  the 
steering  committee  of  the  senate,  where  it  was  held  till 
the  closing  days  of  the  session  when  the  power  of  the 
steering  committee  is  greatest,  and  deliberate  consider- 
ation of  anything  by  the  legislative  body  as  a  whole  is 
practically  impossible.  By  this  time  the  measure  had 
been  quite  thoroughly  and  publicly  discussed  in  Helena 
almost    everywhere    excepting    in    the    combine's  daily 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  231 

papers  of  that  city.  A  canvass  of  the  senate  by  oppon- 
ents to  the  bill  only  a  few  days  before  its  passage  indi- 
cated a  clear  majority  against  it.  Senator  Thomas  Long, 
who  appeared  on  the  senate  floor  as  the  chief  spokesman 
for  the  combine  in  advocacy  of  the  bill,  had  voluntarily 
denounced  the  measure  and  declared  his  hostility  to  it 
only  a  few  days  before.  On  the  day  of  its  passage,  Sen- 
ator John  E.  Edwards,  in  reply  to  a  question  as  to  what 
disposition  would  be  made  of  it,  asserted  that  it  had  not 
a  chance  of  passage.  He  had  been  secretly  working  for 
it,  and  voted  for  it.  Senator  Edward  Donlan,  who  had 
been  defeated  for  governor  largely  by  treachery  of  com- 
bine political  bosses  a  few  months  previously,  had  come 
to  the  legislature,  as  a  holdover  senator  and  the  leader 
of  the  majority  in  the  senate,  with  a  pocket  full  of  bills 
calculated  to  promote  public  reforms  and  regulate  cor- 
porations in  the  public  interest.  He  gave  his  influence 
and  his  vote  to  the  bill.  Upon  the  floor  of  the  senate, 
Senators  W.  F.  Myer,  of  Carbon  county,  and  Thomas  M. 
Everett,  of  Choteau  county,  made  strong  arguments 
against  the  measure  and  described  some  of  the  dangers 
threatened  by  its  enactment ;  but  such  arguments  were 
unavailing  to  change  minds  otherwise  persuaded.  Some 
of  the  methods  used  in  this  work  of  persuasion  were  re- 
vealed by  Senator  Meyer  in  a  public  address  to  his  con- 
stituents subsequently,  when  he  told  of  the  enactment 
of  this  law  and  how  Mr.  John  G.  Morony  approached 
him  in  the  hotel  at  Helena  with  information  that  he  de- 
sired to  talk  to  him  about  a  little  measure  Mr.  Ryan 
and  Mr.  Morony  wished  to  get  through  the  legislature. 
What  followed  is  in  the  reported  language  of  Senator 
Meyer: 

"Senator,"  Morony  said,  "I  want  your  assistance  in 
a  little  matter.  We  want  to  get  a  measure  through,  one 
that  will  help  us  in  a  little  enterprise  at  Great  Falls." 


232  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

"Well,  Johnnie,  I  am  with  you  upon  any  matter  in 
which  I  can  conscientiously  assist  you.  What  is  the 
proposition  ?" 

"Well,  it  is  a  bill  to  give  us  the  right  to  secure  some 
water  power  from  northern  Montana." 

Morony  is  alleged  to  have  explained  more  fully  the 
details  of  the  measure,  whereupon  Senator  Meyer  is 
quoted  as  saying: 

"Morony,  I  cannot  give  you  my  support  for  that 
measure." 

The  matter  was  dropped  for  the  time.  A  little  later 
Mr.  Morony  met  Senator  Meyer  in  the  same  hotel, 
where  were  congregated  many  legislators  and  others. 
He  approached  the  Carbon  county  senator  with,  "Meyer, 
will  you  support  that  measure?" 

"No,  sir;  I  will  not." 

"Senator  Meyer,  I  will  give  you  another  chance.  You 
go  to  the  senate  and  sit  down  and  vote  against  the  bill, 
if  you  will,  but  keep  your  mouth  shut.  Will  you  do 
that?" 

"Now,  Johnnie,  you  know  I  would  not  sit  down  and 
say  nothing  on  that  bill." 

"Say,  Bill  Meyer!"  exclaimed  the  lobbyist  as  he 
stalked  across  the  room,  "I'll  give  you  just  one  more 
chance.  Say  nothing,  but  manage  not  to  be  present  in 
the  senate  when  the  vote  is  taken." 

"Mr.  Morony,  I  will  be  in  the  senate  chamber,  in  my 
seat,  voting." 

The  combine  boss  is  described  as  being  very  angry, 
as  swinging  his  arms,  shaking  his  fists  and  proclaiming 
so  that  all  of  those  in  the  vicinity  in  the  hotel  might 
hear : 

"Bill  Meyer,  if  you  vote  against  that  bill  I  will  camp 
on  your  trail  the  rest  of  my  life,  and  I  will  get  you." 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  233 

It  was  six  months  later  when  the  first  comprehensive 
use  of  this  little  local  law  by  the  combine  management 
was  brought  to  public  knowledge.  Among  the  assets 
acquired  by  the  Amalgamated  company  in  taking  over 
control  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  company  was  an  em- 
pire of  timber  land  in  western  Montana,  estimated  to 
have  some  billions  of  feet  of  lumber.  This  had  been 
secured  by  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway  Company  in 
its  land  grant  and  obtained  by  Mr.  Daly  at  trifling  cost 
per  acre.  It  was  procured  with  the  primary  purpose  of 
insuring  a  lasting  supply  of  mine  timbers,  operations 
requiring  the  use  of  approximately  50,000,000  feet  of 
timber  annually  in  connection  with  Butte  mines.  From 
the  best  information  available  it  is  asserted  that  control 
of  all  of  the  Anaconda  properties,  including  mines, 
smelters,  coal  lands,  railway,  timber,  etc.,  when  the 
Amalgamated  Company  was  organized  in  1899,  cost  the 
inside  promoters  something  like  $30,000,000.  In  1909, 
when  the  Amalgamated  company  was  arranging  its  bus- 
iness in  preparation  for  the  great  copper  merger,  to  be 
a  rival  of  the  steel  trust  in  magnitude  and  stock-jobbing 
opportunity,  and  was  reorganizing  its  corporate  capital- 
ization and  organizations  for  merger  and  other  purposes, 
its  timber  land  and  lumber  manufacturing  properties 
acquired  from  the  Anaconda  Company  were  transferred 
to  a  new  company,  organized  under  authority  of  this 
special  law,  passed  by  its  efforts  through  the  Montana 
legislature  of  1909.  The  capital  stock  was  placed  at 
$25,000,000.  The  articles  of  incorporation  showed  that 
the  amount  of  capital  stock  actually  subscribed  was  five 
shares,  one  each  assigned  to  John  Gillie,  superintendent 
of  the  Amalgamated  company;  to  C.  F.  Kelly,  attorney 
for  the  same  company;  H.  A.  Gallwey,  a  mine  superin- 
tendent for  the  same  company;  R.  S.  Alley,  private  sec- 


234  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

retary  to  President  John  D.  Ryan ;  L.  O.  Evans,  attorney 
and  lobbyist  for  the  same  company.  These  five  were 
designated  as  the  first  board  of  directors.  Three  of 
these  five  were  conspicuous  among  the  lobbyists  em- 
ployed nine  months  before  in  putting  House  Bill  160 
into  the  form  of  law.  The  possibilities  under  that  law 
are  somewhat  revealed  by  the  avowed  purposes  and 
stated  powers  of  this  new  "Big  Blackfoot  Lumber  Com- 
pany", with  its  principal  place  of  business  announced  as 
Missoula,  Montana.  These  purposes  and  powers,  con- 
tained in  the  articles  of  incorporation  filed  in  the  office 
of  the  secretary  of  state  at  Helena,  are  as  follows : 

"(1).  Buying,  owning,  building,  constructing  and 
operating  saw  mills,  planing  mills,  grist  mills  and  flour- 
ing mills. 

"(2).  To  purchase  or  otherwise  acquire,  own,  buy, 
sell,  exchange,  deal  and  traffic  in  standing  timber  and 
timber  lands ;  to  buy,  cut,  haul,  dry,  exchange  and  sell 
timber  and  logs  and  to  saw  and  otherwise  prepare  the 
same  for  market,  and  to  buy,  manufacture,  exchange 
and  sell  lumber,  bark,  wood,  pulp  and  other  materials 
and  all  articles  and  products  made  therefrom  or  consist- 
ing thereof  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  generally  to  carry  on 
as  principals,  agents,  commission  merchants,  consignees, 
or  in  any  other  capacity  whatever,  any  business  appur- 
tenant thereto,  or  any  other  business,  mercantile  or  other- 
wise, which  in  the  judgment  of  the  corporation  may  at 
any  time  be  conveniently  conducted  in  conjunction  with 
any  of  the  matters  aforesaid. 

"(3).  To  buy,  manufacture  and  saw  lumber,  rough, 
dressed,  finished  and  all  building  material. 

"(4).     To  buy  and  sell  grain,  flour  and  meal. 

"(5).  To  grind  and  manufacture  flour,  meal,  shop 
feed,  shop  stuff,  etc. 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  235 

"(6).  To  acquire,  own,  lease,  occupy,  use  or  con- 
struct bridges,  buildings,  machinery,  ships,  boats,  en- 
gines, cars  and  other  equipment,  railroads,  docks,  slips, 
elevators,  water  works,  gas  works,  electric  works,  via- 
ducts, aqueducts,  canals  and  other  waterways,  and  any 
other  means  of  transportation,  and  to  sell  the  same  or 
otherwise  dispose  thereof  or  to  maintain  and  operate 
the  same. 

"(7).  To  appropriate  or  otherwise  to  acquire  water 
rights  and  privileges,  and  to  engage  in  the  business  of 
supplying  and  constructing  water  for  irrigation  and 
other  purposes ;  and  to  acquire  and  to  develop  water, 
electrical,  or  any  kind  of  power  for  its  own  purpose,  or 
for  sale  to  others,  and  to  construct  the  necessary  plants, 
works  and  appliances  for  the  transmission  and  delivery 
thereof. 

"(8).  To  engage  in  other  manufacturing,  construc- 
tion or  transportation  business,  of  any  kind  or  char- 
acter whatsoever,  and  to  that  end  acquire,  hold,  own  and 
dispose  of  any  and  all  property,  assets,  stocks,  bonds 
and  rights  of  any  and  every  kind. 

"(9).  To  apply  for,  obtain,  register,  purchase,  have 
or  otherwise  acquire,  and  to  hold,  use,  own,  operate  and 
to  introduce  and  to  sell,  assign  or  otherwise  dispose  of, 
any  trade  marks,  trade  names,  patents,  inventions,  im- 
provements and  protection  used  in  connection  with  or 
secured  under  letters  obtained  of  the  United  States  or 
elsewhere,  or  otherwise  to  use,  exercise,  develop,  grant 
licenses  in  respect  to,  or  otherwise  to  turn  to  account 
any  such  trade  marks,  patents,  licenses,  protections  and 
the  like,  or  any  such  property  or  rights. 

"(10).  To  purchase  or  otherwise  acquire  and  to 
hold,  sell,  mortgage,  pledge,  exchange  or  otherwise  dis- 
pose   of    bonds,    mortgages,    debentures,    obligations    or 


236  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

shares  of  the  capital  stock  of  any  corporation,  whether 
domestic  or  foreign,  and  to  exercise  with  respect  to  all 
such  property  all  the  rights,  powers  and  privileges  of 
individual  owners  thereof;  and  also  to  purchase,  hold 
and  re-issue  the  shares  of  its  own  capital  stock. 

"(11).  To  do  general  contract  work,  as  contracting 
to  build  railroads,  turnpikes,  dirt  roads,  wagon  roads, 
building  dams,  ditches,  flumes,  etc. 

"(12).  Without  in  any  particular  limiting  any  of  the 
objects  and  powers  of  the  corporation,  it  is  hereby  ex- 
pressly declared  and  provided  that  the  corporation  shall 
have  power  to  issue  bonds  and  other  obligations  in  pay- 
ment of  property  purchased  or  acquired  by  it,  or  for  any 
other  object  in  or  about  its  business;  to  mortgage  or 
pledge  any  stocks,  bonds,  or  other  obligations,  by  it 
issued  or  incurred ;  to  guarantee  any  dividends  or  bonds 
or  contracts  or  obligations ;  to  make  and  perform  con- 
tracts of  any  kind  and  description ;  and  in  carrying  on 
its  business,  or  for  the  purpose  of  attaining  or  furthering 
any  of  its  objects,  to  do  any  and  all  other  acts  and  things 
and  to  exercise  any  and  all  other  powers  which  a  co- 
partnership or  a  natural  person  could  do  and  exercise, 
and  which  now  or  hereafter  may  be  authorized  by  law." 

The  term  of  existence  of  this  company  was  the  maxi- 
mum under  the  law  of  the  state,  forty  years.  This  ap- 
pears like  a  monster  offspring  from  "a  little  local  meas- 
ure" offered  to  promote  home  industry  at  Great  Falls ; 
but  it  was  a  mere  pigmy  product,  a  veritable  mouse  from 
mountain  labors,  compared  with  what  followed. 

Meanwhile  Montana's  legislation  under  combine 
auspices  had  attracted  attention  of  law  students  and  law 
experts  who  had  earned  renown.  At  the  first  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Bar  Association  subsequent  to 
the  Montana  legislative  session  of  1909,  Mr.   Frederick 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  237 

W.  Lehman,  of  St.  Louis,  president  of  the  association,  in 
an  address  on  legislation,  paid  tribute  to  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  copper  combine  in  Montana,  and  gave  rec- 
ognition to  the  scope  and  efficiency  of  its  laws  to  legalize 
lawless  combines  as  follows: 

"There  are  new  statutes,  and  amendments  to  old 
ones,  against  'trusts  and  monopolies,'  but  we  are  left 
much  in  doubt  as  to  their  practical  scope.  They  clearly 
proscribe  any  more  agreement,  arrangement  or  combina- 
tion, between  individuals,  partnerships  or  corporations, 
to  limit  production  or  to  fix  prices.  This  is  the  least 
hurtful  because  the  least  efficient  of  the  various  attempts 
at  monopoly.  Arrangements  of  this  sort  are  not  satis- 
factory to  those  engaged  in  them,  are  usually  short-lived 
and  not  faithfully  kept  while  in  force.  The  'trust'  is  al- 
ways included  in  terms,  but  it  is  obsolete.  Nobody  now 
is  so  ignorant  or  so  defiant  of  law  as  to  think  of  forming 
one.  And  it  is  very  easy  to  do  much  better.  Out  of  the 
ashes  of  the  'trust'  has  sprung  the  holding  company,  the 
'trust'  in  an  improved,  perfected  form.  The  holding 
company  does  and  is  designed  to  do  exactly  what  was 
done  by  the  'trust',  and  does  it  more  efficiently.  Is  it 
under  the  ban  of  the  law?  Certainly  not  in  all  of  the 
states. 

"Chapter  97  of  the  Session  Laws  of  Montana  pro- 
hibits individuals,  partnerships  and  corporations,  from 
directly  or  indirectly  combining  or  forming  'what  is 
known  as  a  trust,'  and,  in  many  and  varied  phrases,  from 
limiting  production  or  fixing  prices  or  creating  a 
'monopoly  in  the  manufacture,  sale  or  transportation  of 
any  article  of  merchandise.'  Chapter  106  (House  Bill 
160)  of  the  same  laws,  governing  private  corporations, 
authorizes  capital  stock  'to  any  amount  which  may  be 
deemed  sufficient  and  proper  for  the  purposes  of  the  cor- 


238  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

poration,'  and  it  further  authorizes  any  corporation  to 
hold  the  capital  stock  of  any  other  corporation  or  cor- 
porations, wherever  formed  or  organized,  and  to  exer- 
cise 'all  the  rights,  powers  and  privileges  of  ownership, 
including  the  right  to  vote  upon  such  stock.'  Having 
slain  the  senile  and  debilitated  'trust',  they  made  in- 
vulnerable through  legitimacy  its  youthful  and  sturdy 
successor,  the  holding  company.  They  carefully  guard 
against  any  possible  resurrection  of  the  'trust'  by  the 
provision  'that  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  as 
repealing  any  of  the  provisions  of  House  Bill  No.  310, 
known  as  the  Anti-Trust  bill'.  But  these  two  laws  stand 
together,  with  the  result  that  any  industry  or  business 
of  the  state  may  be  legally  monopolized,  provided  it  is 
well  and  thoroughly  done  and  no  half-way  measures  are 
employed.  This  condition  of  the  law  exists  in  other 
states,  although  in  no  other  was  it  brought  about  with 
such  apparent  deliberation  and  at  one  and  the  same  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature.  And  it  is  this  sort  of  dealing 
with  serious  public  questions  that  accounts  for  the  radi- 
calism of  later  measures,  most  denounced  by  those  most 
responsible  for  them. 

"But  the  holding  company  is  not  the  full  and  final 
development  of  industrial  combination.  This  is  reached 
in  the  single  corporation  with  unlimited  power  of  capi- 
talism and  direct  ownership  of  the  business  and  prop- 
erties with  which  it  deals.  Here  is  eliminated  even  the 
disturbing  element  of  minority  interests  in  constituent 
companies.  Yet  states  which  prohibit  'trusts'  and  as- 
sume to  prohibit  monopolies,  set  no  bounds  to  the  cap- 
italization of  their  corporations  or  fix  the  limit  so  high 
that  under  it  many  industries  may  be  completely  en- 
grossed. 

"The  result  of  such  legislation  is  simply  to  prevent 
combination    where    the    appearance    of    competition    is 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  239 

maintained  and  to  sanction  it  where  the  combination  is 
open,  avowed  and  most  effective.  That  certainly  was 
not  the  popular  purpose.  The  movement  against  'trusts' 
was  against  the  monopoly  of  industry  or  business,  how- 
ever accomplished,  and  the  more  thoroughly  it  was  done, 
the  greater  was  the  objection  to  it.  The  assurance  that 
the  economies  resulting  from  combination  would  cheapen 
production  and  that  this  would  go  to  the  benefit  of  the 
consumer  was  never  accepted.  Our  people  have  no 
faith  in  a  benevolent  despotism.  They  know  that  power 
tends  to  abuse.  A  corporation  large  enough  to  engross 
an  industry  cannot  be  trusted  to  a  generous  or  even  a 
just  use  of  its  mastery.  An  enlightened  self-interest  may 
find  its  real  and  lasting  advantage  in  moderation,  but 
self-interest  does  not  mean  self-enlightenment.  Recent 
disclosures  show  that  greed  has  not  changed  its  nature 
and  still  grows  by  what  it  feeds  upon.  The  complete 
absorption  of  a  rival  is  not  beyond  its  capacity,  and  the 
crumbs  of  a  false  balance  are  not  beneath  its  covetous- 
ness." 

The  accuracy  of  Mr.  Lehman's  analysis  was  proven 
on  March  23,  1910,  when  a  special  meeting  of  the  Ana- 
conda Copper  Mining  company  was  held  at  Anaconda, 
Montana.  As  reported  in  the  official  organs  of  the  com- 
pany, exactly  four  people  were  present,  all  subordinate 
employes  of  the  combine  organization  and  mere  dummies 
for  the  Napoleons  of  finance  and  speculative  stock-job- 
bing in  Wall  Street.  One  was  Mr.  Ben.  Thayer  of  New 
York,  assistant  to  the  president  of  the  Amalgamated 
company  during  war  times  and  now  president  of  the 
Anaconda  company;  another,  Mr.  John  Gillie,  superin- 
tendent of  the  company  at  Butte;  Messrs.  C.  F.  Kelly 
and  L.  O.  Evans,  members  of  the  Butte  branch  of  the 
combine  legal  department,  were  the  others.     These  four 


240  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

men,  with  two  motions,  formally  increased  the  capital 
stock  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  company  from 
1,200,000  shares,  with  a  par  value  of  $25  each,  to  6,000,- 
000  shares,  with  a  total  capitalization  of  $150,000,000, 
and  authorized  the  issue  of  over  3,000,000  shares  of  this 
new  stock  to  be  exchanged  for  the  stocks  and  properties 
of  the  various  constituent  companies  of  the  Amalga- 
mated holding  company.  Here  was  the  development 
of  "the  single  corporation  with  unlimited  power  of  cap- 
italism and  direct  ownership  of  the  business  and  prop- 
erties with  which  it  deals"  as  foretold  in  Mr.  Lehman's 
address.  This  was  not  only  sanctioned  by  the  law  of 
the  state,  but  the  bills  for  those  laws  were  approved  in 
advance  of  their  passage,  in  verbal  opinions  of  supreme 
court  judges  to  lawmakers,  while  at  least  one  member 
of  the  court  of  last  resort  in  the  state  actually  worked 
for  support  for  the  so-called  anti-trust  bill,  interpreted 
by  Mr.  Lehman  as  the  statutory  Gibraltar  behind  which 
the  single  corporation  with  unlimited  power  of  capital- 
ism and  direct  ownership  was  entrenched. 

The  simple  and  beneficent  enterprise  of  the  combine 
organization  under  these  laws  was  revealed  in  an  article 
published  by  the  Wall  Street  Journal,  and  reprinted  on 
April  10  by  The  Anaconda  Standard,  as  follows : 

"The  Amalgamated  group  during  several  years  past 
has  greatly  changed  its  methods  of  producing  copper. 
Millions  of  dollars  have  been  expended  for  the  installa- 
tion of  machinery  driven  by  electricity  and  the  intro- 
duction of  economies  has  been  general  in  the  mines  and 
smelters. 

"The  next  step  was  the  merger  of  the  so-called  Amal- 
gamated properties  in  the  Butte  district  and  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  Clark  copper  properties  in  Montana.  Then 
followed  the  purchase  of  the  United  Metals  Selling  com- 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  241 

pany  on  a  basis  practically  of  book  valuation.  Control 
of  the  International  Smelting  and  Refining  company,  the 
largest  refinery  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  went  with  the 
selling  company.  Amalgamated  is  now  in  a  position  to 
handle  its  own  product  from  the  mines  to  the  refinery. 

"Reports,  which  seem  to  have  some  foundation,  are 
current  to  the  effect  that  the  Amalgamated  Copper  com- 
pany is  negotiating  for  one  of  the  largest  plants  in  the 
United  States  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  copper 
wire,  sheet  copper  and  brass  products.  If  such  a  deal 
is  put  through,  Amalgamated  would  then  hold  a  position 
similar  to  that  of  the  United  States  Steel  corporation,  in- 
asmuch as  it  would  control  the  situation  from  the  min- 
ing of  copper  to  its  conversion  into  finished  products, 
such  as  wire,  sheets,  etc. 

"Through  its  acquisition  of  the  United  Metals  Selling 
company  the  Amalgamated  will  benefit  to  the  extent  of 
at  least  $600,000  a  year.  The  net  income  of  the  United 
Metals  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  $1,250,000  a  year;  the 
charges  on  the  $12,500,000  5  per  cent,  notes  amount  to 
$625,000  a  year,  therefore  Amalgamated  benefits  to  the 
extent  of  the  difference  between  these  two  sums,  or 
$625,000  annually.  Benefits  in  the  way  of  earnings  will 
also  accrue  as  a  result  of  the  recent  renewal  of  copper 
refining  contracts  for  10  years.  The  merger  of  the  Butte 
properties  has  resulted  in  a  saving  of  several  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a  year. 

"Should  Amalgamated  enter  the  copper  manufactur- 
ing business  on  a  large  scale,  earnings  should  show  a 
good  increase  from  this  source.  The  Amalgamated,  as 
the  largest  seller  of  copper,  would  naturally  use  its  best 
efforts  to  increase  the  consumption  of  copper.  It  will 
be  recalled  that  a  short  time  ago  Amalgamated  interests 
brought  considerable  pressure  to  bear  to  induce  manu- 


242  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

facturers  of  certain  finished  copper  products  to  come 
down  in  their  prices  to  a  level  commensurate  with  the 
price  of  the  raw  product.  Amalgamated  interests  held 
that  as  a  result  of  this  inequality  of  prices  between  fin- 
ished and  raw  copper  products  consumption  was  being 
retarded. 

"The  opinion  in  copper  circles  is  that  as  soon  as  the 
supreme  court  hands  down  its  decision  in  the  oil  and 
tobacco  cases  the  question  of  merging  the  important 
copper  companies  of  the  country  will  again  be  taken  up. 
Amalgamated,  through  its  own  product  and  that  handled 
by  United  Metals  Selling  company  will  naturally  domi- 
nate the  situation." 

On  April  23,  1910,  Collier's  Weekly  said  editorially: 
"In  our  issue  of  April  2  last,  we  called  attention  to 
the  proposed  formation  of  the  big  copper  trust  between 
the  Morgan-Guggenheim-Amalgamated  interests.  Every 
indication  then  pointed  to  the  formation,  in  open  de- 
fiance of  law,  of  this  combination.  Events  since  have 
made  certain  what  was  then  only  our  prediction.  We 
say  now  to  Attorney-General  Wickersham  that  this 
merger  will  take  place  in  the  very  near  future,  unless 
restrained  or  enjoined  by  law.  Constructive  lawyers 
have  found  a  way  to  create  these  trusts.  With  equal 
ingenuity,  can  not  the  Attorney-General  find  a  way  to 
stop  them?  Not  only  does  this  new  copper  combine 
mean  more  powerful  control  over  a  commodity  which 
has  become  one  of  the  necessities  of  commerce;  it  means 
the  total  destruction  of  the  helpless  independent  copper 
producers,  and  it  means  as  well  reckless  juggling  with 
stock  markets.  By  finding  a  way  to  stop  this  combina- 
tion, Attorney-General  Wickersham  will  do  much  to 
prove  that  his  former  employment  as  an  attorney  by 
the  Morgan  interests  has  no  influence  upon  his  present 


A    CONSTITUTION    BETWEEN    FRIENDS  243 

political  usefulness.  Such  a  public  example  just  now 
might  help  to  offset  Ballinger's  methods  in  the  Alaska 
steal." 

Certain  political  conditions  and  uncertain  conditions 
of  lawless  combine  security  in  consequence,  with  evi- 
dent reluctance  of  investors  and  speculators  to  accept 
the  urgent  invitations  from  Wall  Street  to  participate  in 
the  pleasures  of  another  boom  in  copper  stocks,  appar- 
ently gave  pause  even  to  such  daring  and  successful 
Napoleons  as  have  made  famous  the  "Rockefeller  group" 
of  operators.  But  the  constitution  and  the  laws  of  Mon- 
tana were  seemingly  regarded  as  all  right  for  the  enter- 
prise held  in  abeyance  for  more  favorable  political  and 
business  conditions. 


Relief  from  Taxation  for  Monopolists 

Great  progress  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  is  not  al- 
ways marked  by  celebrated  achievement.  The  Revolu- 
tionary fathers  earned  enduring  fame  by  waging  war 
successfully  to  escape  taxation  without  representation 
in  government.  Without  any  war  at  all  the  Napoleons 
of  Wall  Street  in  Montana  have  escaped  taxation  with 
representation,  and  without  so  much  as  attracting  notice 
from  the  great  majority  of  citizens  whose  burdens  have 
been  increased  thereby.  For  capitalization  and  dividend 
purposes,  and  in  market  values  quoted  from  day  to  day, 
the  properties  in  Montana  of  the  copper  combine  are 
rated  in  excess  of  $200,000,000.  If  these  were  assessed 
at  one-tenth  of  a  fair  amount  and  taxed  in  that  state  as 
other  property  not  Owned  by  tax-dodgers  is  taxed,  the 
taxes  paid  within  the  state  by  the  copper  combine  in- 
terests would  be  greater  than  they  are  under  existing 
conditions.  Gentlemen  are  not  fictitiously  described  as 
high  financiers  who  can  save  from  $3,000,000  to  $5,000,- 
000  annually  in  the  one  item  of  taxes  on  the  property 
held  by  a  corporation  organized  under  specially  pro- 
cured law  designed  to  authorize  "a  little  local  company" 
to  engage  in  the  hotel  business.  The  people  of  Montana 
have  not  regarded  it  as  worth  the  trouble  or  expense  to 
create  the  office  of  state  tax  commissioner  and  to  em- 
ploy a  competent  man  or  men  to  "stay  on  the  job".  The 
private  corporation,  organized  under  the  laws  of  new 
Jersey  to  do  business  in  Montana,  has  its  tax  department 
working  throughout  the  year,  with  a  tax  commissioner 
employed  by  the  year  and  selected  for  the  responsible 

[245] 


246  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

duties  of  his  position  because  of  his  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  tax  laws,  tax  officers  and  tax-dodging  in  Mon- 
tana, acquired  through  years  of  employment  by  one  of 
the  great  transcontinental  railway  systems  operating  in 
that  state.  It  has  been  modestly  and  conservatively  es- 
timated, by  a  person  qualified  to  make  such  calculations, 
that  this  official  in  a  single  year  saved  his  employing 
company  at  least  $200,000  in  reduced  taxes  by  securing 
low  assessments  or  reductions  in  assessments  upon  that 
comparatively  small  part  of  the  company's  property  sub- 
ject to  the  usual  methods  of  taxation  in  the  state. 

In  the  judgment  of  courts  of  competent  jurisdiction, 
and  of  legislatures,  and  tax  officers,  and  even  some  tax- 
payers, there  has  seemed  to  be  no  redress  for  the  state 
and  no  remedy  for  these  apparent  and  unjust  inequalities, 
and  no  burdensome  responsibility  upon  the  combine  for 
them,  because  the  state,  like  most  of  the  workmen  who 
get  killed  or  injured  in  the  combine  employment,  or  like 
public  officials  who  disregard  its  "wants",  was  guilty 
of  "contributory  negligence".  The  men  who  framed  the 
Montana  state  constitution  evidently  meant  well,  and 
plainly  apprehended  a  possibility  that  some  among  less 
benevolent  corporations  might  be  created  in  the  remote 
future  devoid  of  that  patriotic  fervor  and  generous  public 
spirit  which  makes  tax-paying  a  pleasure.  The  consti- 
tution says :  "The  power  to  tax  corporations  or  corporate 
property  shall  never  be  relinquished  or  suspended,  and 
all  corporations  in  this  state,  or  doing  business  therein, 
shall  be  subject  to  taxation  for  state,  county,  school, 
municipal  and  other  purposes,  on  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty, owned  or  used  by  them,  and  not  by  this  constitu- 
tion exempted  from  taxation".  But  those  state  builders 
were  actuated  by  a  desire  to  develop  and  increase  the 
wealth  of  the  state  as  well  as  by  a  determination  to  make 


RELIEF    FROM    TAXATION    FOR    MONOPOLISTS        247 

corporations  contribute  their  fair  share  of  the  burden  of 
support  of  government.  Mining  was  then  the  chief 
industry,  but  it  was  yet  a  young  industry  and  it  was  the 
approved  policy  to  encourage  the  discovery  of  new  mines 
as  well  as  the  development  of  those  already  discovered 
but  with  unascertained  values  in  minerals.  Hence  the 
one  exception  from  the  rule  of  uniform  assessment  and 
taxation,  other  than  properties  devoted  to  public  or  re- 
ligious or  charitable  or  educational  uses,  was  with  re- 
spect to  mines.  It  was  provided  that  all  mines  and  min- 
ing claims  should  be  taxed  at  the  price  paid  to  the 
United  States  therefor,  with  further  provision  for  addi- 
tional taxes  on  ground  used  for  other  than  mining  pur- 
poses and  for  machinery  and  surface  improvements  on 
mining  properties,  "And  the  annual  net  proceeds  of  all 
mines  and  mining  claims  shall  be  taxed  as  provided  by 
law."  The  generous  policy  of  the  state  thus  adopted,  to 
encourage  new  enterprise  and  competition  in  the  mining 
industry,  has  been  perpetuated  and  utilized  to  increase 
the  burdens  upon  other  property  and  business  and  upon 
the  citizens  of  the  state,  for  the  greater  enrichment  of 
a  foreign  corporate  combination  which  has  monopolized 
the  developed  mining  industry  and  exercised  the  powers 
and  resources  inseparable  from  such  a  monopoly  to  ex- 
tend its  control  to  other  industries  and  enterprises,  even 
to  the  agencies  and   powers   of  government   itself. 

In  the  year  1909  and  again  in  1911,  bills  for  the  sub- 
mission to  the  people  of  constitutional  amendment  pro- 
viding for  the  taxation  of  mining  property,  in  the  same 
manner  as  of  all  other  property,  were  introduced  in  the 
legislature  and  killed,  as  all  other  measures  were  killed 
by  the  lawmaking  bodies  of  those  years  if  unsatisfactory 
to  the  combine  management.  In  the  purely  perfunctory 
arguments  presented  from  the  floor  against  these  meas- 


248  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

ures,  pleas  were  made  on  the  one  hand  for  protection  to 
small  mining  operators, — who  were  more  immediately  in 
need  of  protection  against  extortionate  smelter  charges 
under  combine  management  than  from  anything  else  on 
earth, — and  on  the  other  hand  the  big  corporation's 
representatives  in  the  legislature  insisted  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  anybody  to  assess  mines  intelligently 
and  accurately, — as  if  other  property  generally  was  as- 
sessed intelligently  or  accurately.  The  claim  that  the 
company  officials  could  be  as  well  trusted  to  make  re- 
turns of  their  book  valuations  of  developed  properties  as 
to  make  returns  of  their  net  earnings  for  taxation  pur- 
poses, did  not  appeal  with  convincing  force  to  their  legis- 
lative agents.  Doubtless  it  was  not  known  by  law- 
makers of  Montana  at  the  time,  but  the  Amalgamated 
Copper  company  managers  had  been  persuaded,  a  few 
months  earlier,  to  make  returns  to  the  national  govern- 
ment of  its  actual  investment,  and  income,  gross  and  net, 
duly  attested  by  oath  of  its  officers,  although  they  did  it 
under  protest,  with  a  statement  of  reasons  why  they 
thought  the  national  tax  was  illegal,  and  confessing  that 
the  return  was  made  to  protect  the  company  and  its  offi- 
cers from  prosecution  by  the  national  government.  The 
year  before  the  legislature  last  refused  to  give  the  people 
of  Montana  an  opportunity  to  vote  on  this  proposed  con- 
stitutional amendment,  all  the  property  in  Montana  was, 
for  taxation  purposes,  valued  at  about  $300,000,000.  This 
included  the  mining  property  subject  to  taxation,  which 
was  valued  at  a  little  over  $8,000,000.  This  happened 
within  a  few  months  of  the  time  when  eastern  papers 
were  printing  reports,  which  the  combine  boosting  or- 
gans of  Montana  were  copying,  about  the  revised  plan 
to  consummate  the  big  copper  interests'  consolidation ; 
with  Mr.  John  D.  Ryan  as  the  guiding  spirit  in  perfect- 


RELIEF    FROM    TAXATION    FOR    MONOPOLISTS        249 

ing  the  combine,  while  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  were 
credited  with  being  the  finanical  manipulators.  In  this 
expanding  combine  enterprise  the  aim,  of  course,  was  to 
satisfy  the  investing  public  respecting  the  great  assets 
back  of  the  greater  capitalization  contemplated.  An  ac- 
cepted authority  on  the  subject  of  copper  interests  at 
that  time  declared  Amalgamated  timber  lands  alone  to 
be  worth  $30,000,000,  on  an  exceedingly  conservative 
estimate  based  upon  the  charge  made  for  stumpage  in 
the  same  district  by  the  United  States  government.  Amal- 
gamated's  coal  mines,  by  the  same  authority,  "on  an 
equally  conservative  valuation",  were  placed  at  $20,- 
000,000.  It  was  stated  that  the  company  had  in  its  vari- 
ous treasuries  $25,000,000  in  cash  and  credits  and  that  its 
"big  concentrators  and  smelters  are  worth  the  $15,000,- 
000  which  they  cost".  The  same  authority,  Mr.  George 
L.  Walker,  gave  the  farther  and  unquestionably  conser- 
vative asurance  that  the  combine's  copper  mines  "are 
worth  a  great  deal  more  than  all  its  outside  assets  com- 
bined". It  never  occurred,  so  far  as  the  debates  revealed 
the  contents  of  the  legislative  mind,  to  the  gentlemen  in- 
credulous of  the  ability  of  tax  officers  to  appraise  mines, 
that  they  might  reasonably  accept  the  appraisals  made 
by  the  combine  managers  themselves  and  published  by 
them  in  their  organs  in  New  York  and  Boston  as  well  as 
in  Montana. 

There  was  another  provision  of  the  Montana  consti- 
tution limiting  the  rate  of  taxation  of  real  and  personal 
property  for  state  purposes  in  any  one  year,  and  specifi- 
cally reducing  such  rate  from  two  and  one-half  mills  on 
the  dollar  of  valuation  to  one  and  one-half  mills  on  the 
dollar  whenever  the  taxable  property  in  the  state  shall 
amount  to  $300,000,000.  This  amount  was  reached  in 
1910;  and  was  anticipated  by  state  officials  who  spend  or 


250  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

receive  the  revenues,  as  well  as  by  eminent  tax-dodgers 
interested  to  prevent  a  situation  which  would  compel  a 
more  thorough  and  equitable  enforcement  of  tax  laws. 
In  1907  a  proposed  amendment  changing  this  rate  was 
put  through  the  legislature  and  was  defeated  by  the  peo- 
ple in  the  following  election  without  much  being  heard 
either  for  or  against  it  from  any  source.  In  1909,  Gov- 
ernor Norris  made  elaborate  presentation  of  the  impend- 
ing crisis  involved  in  an  automatic  constitutional  reduc- 
tion of  state  taxes.  Influx  of  new  settlers  and  improve- 
ments in  agricultural  sections  had  increased  taxable 
property  with  unexpected  rapidity,  and  it  was  reasonably 
certain  that  the  $300,000,000  limitation  would  be  reached 
the  next  year.  The  legislature  in  1909  had  again  passed 
a  bill  for  the  submission  of  a  constitutional  amendment 
to  increase  the  maximum  amount  of  taxable  property 
which  could  be  taxed  for  state  purposes  at  two  and  one- 
half  mills  on  the  dollar.  But  this  amendment  could  not 
be  voted  on  till  November,  1910,  and  the  legislative  tax 
levy  of  1909  was  in  conflict  with  the  constitutional  pro- 
vision of  1889.  Attorney  General  Albert  J.  Galen  pub- 
lished an  opinion  "that  the  constitution  was  not  self-ex- 
ecuting", and  that  the  fact  that  the  legislature  had  fixed 
a  levy  for  two  years  at  two  and  one-half  mills,  while  the 
property  valuation  was  within  the  $300,000,000  limit,  and 
would  not  meet  again  in  regular  session  before  the  taxes 
for  1910  would  be  collected,  served  to  make  the  levy  of 
two  and  one-half  mills  operative  and  lawful,  despite  the 
specific  constitutional  mandate  that  "whenever  the  tax- 
able property  in  the  state  shall  amount  to  three  hundred 
millions  dollars  the  rate  shall  never  exceed  one  and  one- 
half  mills  on  each  dollar  of  valuation,  unless  a  proposi- 
tion to  increase  such  rate,  specifying  the  rate  proposed, 
and  the  time    during    which    the    same    shall    be  levied, 


RELIEF    FROM    TAXATION    FOR    MONOPOLISTS        251 

shall  have  been  submitted  to  the  people  at  a  general  elec- 
tion, and  shall  have  received  a  majority  of  all  the  votes 
cast  for  and  against  it  at  such  election." 

The  opinion  by  the  attorney  general  was  accom- 
panied by  the  suggestion  that  the  question  should  be 
brought  to  conclusive  determination  by  court  decision 
to  avoid  embarrassment  in  the  event  that  the  question  was 
raised  subsequently  to  the  tax  levy.  Almost  immediately 
legal  proceeding  was  commenced,  in  the  name  of  a  rela- 
tive of  the  attorney  general,  to  restrain  the  state  officials 
from  levying  the  tax  of  two  and  one-half  mills  on  the 
dollar  of  assessed  valuation,  on  the  ground  that  it  would 
be  a  violation  of  the  state  constitution.  The  proceeding 
was  taken  directly  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  state.  The 
attorney  general  appeared  and  argued  in  behalf  of  the 
higher  revenue  and  against  the  constitution,  and  attor- 
neys for  his  relative  argued  for  the  constitution.  With 
promptness  the  supreme  court  announced  its  decision  in 
support  of  the  position  and  opinion  of  the  attorney  gen- 
eral. Almost  at  once  the  newspaper  organs  and  other 
influences  of  the  combine  were  enlisted  in  efforts  to  con- 
vince the  public  in  regard  to  the  narrow  escape  which 
the  state  had  had  from  grave  embarrassment  by  reason  of 
this  constitutional  limitation.  It  was  insisted  that  the 
only  way  to  economize  to  meet  such  an  emergency  from 
reduced  revenue  would  be  to  take  the  amount  of  differ- 
ence away  from  the  educational  and  charitable  institu- 
tions of  the  state.  College  presidents  and  professors, 
alumni,  and  students,  down  to  the  preparatory  depart- 
ments, were  drafted  for  the  campaign  against  relief  from 
higher  taxes  on  homes  and  farms  and  the  business  of 
honest  taxpayers  and,  thereby,  for  the  continued  immu- 
nity from  a  fair  share  of  taxation  for  the  monopoly  com- 
bine  and   millionaire   non-resident   tax-dodgers.    In  that 


252  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

campaign  the  public  educators  of  the  state  talked  and 
wrote  to  the  public  more  voluminously  and  enthusiasti- 
cally in  favor  of  the  constitutional  amendment  than  they 
ever  had  done  in  a  like  period  of  time  in  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation in  the  state.  They  were  honest,  and  they  were 
frightened,  and  they  made  a  good  fight,  and  they  won  the 
combine's  battle.  The  amendment  was  adopted.  The 
next  session  of  the  legislature  made  extravagant  appro- 
priations which  exceeded  the  state  revenues,  notwith- 
standing the  increase,  and  Governor  Norris  and  Attor- 
ney General  Galen  arbitrarily  held  up  the  appropriations 
for  educational  purposes  and  gave  the  benefit  of  the  rev- 
enues, in  part  at  least,  to  extravagant  and  unnecessary 
increased  cost  of  political  departments  of  the  state  ad- 
ministration. 

The  exemptions  of  so  much  of  its  valuable  mining 
property  from  taxation,  under  the  existing  system  in 
Montana,  does  not  satisfy  the  gluttonous  desire  of  the 
combine  management  for  economy  in  taxation  itself.  In 
the  counties  where  its  principal  properties  are  located, 
its  great  political  power  is  regularly  and  successfully  ex- 
erted in  the  selection  of  public  officials  charged  with  the 
assessment  and  equalization  of  property  for  taxation, 
and  it  has  been  known  to  compel  the  taxgatherers  to  re- 
sort to  proceedings  in  court  to  enforce  collection  of  taxes 
based  on  absurdly  low  valuations  of  some  of  its  prop- 
erties subject  under  the  laws  to  ordinary  tax  methods. 
This  has  not  happened  frequently,  because  there  is  not 
frequent  occasion  after  the  combine's  own  tax  commis- 
sioner has  finished  his  work  with  friendly  assessors  and 
friendly  county  commissioners  who  form  the  last  board 
of  review  on  valuations  for  counties,  under  judicial  in- 
terpretation of  a  constitutional  provision  for  a  state 
board  of  review  to  adjust  valuations  as  between  counties. 


RELIEF    FROM    TAXATION    FOR    MONOPOLISTS        253 

Among  the  combines  within  the  combine,  created  to 
pick  np  any  resources  or  utilities  which  give  promise  of 
profit,  there  is  the  United  Missouri  River  Power  Com- 
pany, formed  by  a  consolidation  of  three  other  power 
companies,  which  together  have  monopolized  the  water 
power  of  the  Missouri  river  from  its  source  in  Madison 
county  on  the  southern  border  of  the  state,  to  Great  Falls 
in  the  north,  where  another  Ryan  and  Morony  creation, 
"friendly  to  the  Amalgamated",  has  acquired  control  of 
the  river  for  power  purposes.  This  United  Missouri  River 
Power  Company  was  capitalized  for  $14,000,000  and 
bonded  for  $12,500,000.  It  was  assessed  by  the  assessor 
for  the  county  of  Lewis  and  Clark  for  the  year  1910  at 
$2,036,855  in  the  aggregate,  three  separate  dam  proper- 
ties with  improvements  being  assessed  and  taxed  separ- 
ately. The  taxes  assessed  against  one  of  these  proper- 
ties were  paid,  and  the  taxes  charged  against  the  others 
were  allowed  to  become  delinquent.  The  merger  com- 
pany tendered  to  the  county  $20,366.34  to  settle  a  tax 
roll  claim  of  $31,069.12.  The  tender  was  refused  by  the 
county  commissioners,  and  the  power  company  went  into 
United  States  court  and  secured  a  temporary  injunction 
to  prevent  the  sale  of  the  property  for  taxes.  In  its  bill 
the  company  said  it  was  "informed  and  believes  and 
therefore  alleges  that  the  board  of  equalization,  in  pursu- 
ance of  an  unlawful,  improper,  and  arbitrary  conspiracy 
and  agreement  between  themselves  and  the  said  assessor, 
did  fraudulently,  arbitrarily,  wrongfully  and  unlawfully 
increase"  its  assessed  valuation.  After  continuances  of 
the  case  in  court,  and  without  a  decision  by  the  court  or 
any  trial  of  the  cause  on  its  merits  before  the  court,  on 
April  7,  1911,  the  United  Missouri  River  Power  Company 
paid  to  the  county  treasurer  of  Lewis  and  Clark  county 
$27,118.92  in  compromise  settlement  of  its  taxes  for  the 


254  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

year  1910.  Here  was  a  gain  to  the  public  of  about  $7,000 
if  the  power  combine  company  was  right  in  its  conten- 
tion regarding  a  conspiracy  and  in  its  tender  of  taxes  to 
the  county  treasurer,  and  a  gain  of  something  like  $4,000 
to  the  company  if  an  assessment  of  $2,036,835  was  rea- 
sonable and  just  under  the  law  on  all  the  property  of  a 
corporation  stocked  for  $14,000,000  and  mortgaged  for 
$12,500,000. 


Shut-Down  Scares  in  Practical  Use 

When  all  other  arguments  and  influences  are  inade- 
quate to  accomplish  any  important  purpose  of  corporate 
combine  management  in  Montana,  there  is  resort  to  the 
"shut-down  scare".  The  shut-down  itself  is  not  required 
excepting  in  very  extraordinary  emergencies,  or  to  con- 
vince extraordinarily  stubborn  people.  The  closing  of 
mines  in  Butte  means  the  closing  of  smelters  at  Ana- 
conda and  at  Great  Falls,  of  saw  mills  in  Ravalli  and  Mis- 
soula counties,  enforced  idleness  for  from  twelve  to  eight- 
een thousand  wage-earners,  and,  if  long  protracted, 
bankruptcy  for  merchants  and  extreme  privations  for 
thousands  of  families. 

The  reader  has  been  informed  how  a  suspension  of 
operations  in  response  to  an  adverse  court  decision  re- 
sulted in  the  calling  of  a  special  session  of  the  legislature 
by  Governor  Toole  and  the  enactment  of  a  general  law 
for  the  special  purpose  of  enabling  the  Amalgamated 
company  to  escape  from  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of 
Heinze's  inferior  courts  in  Silver  Bow  county;  also  how 
a  partial  suspension  of  operations  enabled  the  combine 
management  to  reduce  the  monthly  earnings  of  work- 
men, without  changing  the  daily  wage  scale,  in  its  enter- 
prise of  subjugating  organized  labor.  While  the  deci- 
sion by  Judge  Clancy,  declaring  the  Amalgamated  com- 
pany to  be  an  outlaw  within  the  state,  furnished  ample 
excuse  in  law  for  the  corporate  suspension  of  operations, 
it  did  not  provide  imperative  necessity  for  such  disastrous 
punishment  upon  the  public,  as  was  shown  by  the  fact 
that  the  company  resumed  operations,  before  the  legisla- 

[255] 


256  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

ture  was  convened  or  the  remedial  legislation  was  en- 
acted, in  response  to  Governor  Toole's  somewhat  whim- 
sical insistence  that  the  lawmakers  should  not  be  com- 
pelled to  act  in  special  session  under  the  compelling  in- 
fluence of  a  public  sentiment  based  on  the  public  misfor- 
tune of  suspended  operations  in  the  chief  industry  of  the 
state.  Judge  Clancy  furnished  the  excuse  for  the  shut- 
down, but  the  shut-down  itself  provided  the  influence  to 
secure  the  special  session  and  the  special  legislation 
which  the  combine  influences  had  been  previously  ex- 
hausted in  vain  efforts  to  secure.  This  successful  use  of 
the  shut-down  scare  in  1903  made  it  a  favorite  weapon 
with  the  combine  management  ever  after.  It  was  used 
with  and  without  apparent  good  reason,  sometimes  fa- 
mously and  occasionally  infamously.  It  has  lacked  effi- 
ciency on  only  two  occasions.  In  a  previous  chapter  the 
facts  were  given  of  the  vain  attempt  by  Mr.  John  D. 
Ryan,  with  threat  of  a  complete  suspension  of  opera- 
tions in  mid-winter,  to  intimidate  the  members  of  the 
Butte  Miners'  Union  to  the  extreme  which  would  prompt 
them  to  engage  as  "scabs"  and  strike-breakers  to  bring 
striking  switchmen  on  the  Great  Northern  Railway  to 
terms  with  their  employers.  The  only  other  human  be- 
ing who  ever  made  Mr.  Ryan  "back  up"  with  his  shut- 
down scare  was  Mr.  Theodore  Roosevelt  when  he  was 
president  of  the  United  States. 

There  is  more  than  guess  work  or  unfounded  report 
to  support  the  statement  that  the  combine  management 
utilized  a  shut-down  and  resulting  privation  in  Montana 
to  bring  wage-earners  under  subjection.  Miners'  wages 
in  Butte  almost  always  have  been  higher  than  in  most 
other  mining  districts  of  the  world.  The  cost  of  living 
also  has  been  higher,  and  in  recent  years  at  least  the  oc- 
cupation has  been  extra-hazardous  to  life  and  limb.     The 


SHUT-DOWN    SCARES    IN    PRACTICAL    USE  257 

Miners'  Union  did  not  take  advantage  of  the  copper  wars 
in  Butte  to  secure  increase  of  wages,  as  it  might  have 
done.  The  five  years'  contract  with  the  union,  basing 
wages  on  a  sliding  scale  to  correspond  with  high  and  low 
prices  of  copper,  was  drawn  by  company  agents  if  it  did 
not  originate  with  them.  It  was  respected  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  union  to  the  extent  of  disregarding  laws 
adopted  by  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  and  it  was 
violated  by  the  combine  management  at  the  first  oppor- 
tunity when  violation  would  serve  combine  greed.  In 
1907,  when  the  over-inflated  copper  stock  boom  exploded 
and  the  price  of  copper  "slumped",  the  Amalgamated 
company  took  occasion  to  suspend  operations  to  a  great 
extent  in  Montana.  The  Clark  properties  in  Montana  and 
Arizona,  and  the  great  copper  mines  of  the  Calumet  and 
Hecla  company  in  Michigan,  as  well  as  other  established 
independent  operators,  continued  working  their  mines 
and  reduction  plants  and  to  give  employment  to  their 
workmen.  On  September  17,  1907,  the  Boston  News  Bu- 
reau, a  journal  devoted  largely  to  stock  market  news,  and 
usually  well  informed  on  subjects  related  to  the  market, 
printed  the  following: 

"We  understand  that  the  Amalgamated  management 
has  determined  that  it  is  not  only  for  the  interests  of  the 
copper  trade,  but  for  the  best  interests  of  Butte  as  a  cop- 
per camp,  that  a  shut-down  of  the  Butte  copper  mines 
should  be  as  complete  as  possible,  and  that  they  should 
not  be  reopened  until  both  the  copper  and  labor  markets 
have  been  readjusted.  The  Montana  copper  war  created 
a  bad  labor  situation  and  it  will  take  time  and  possibly 
sharp  action  to  readjust  this  to  a  proper  basis.  *  *  * 
The  state  of  affairs  in  Butte  has  become  well  nigh  intol- 
erable, and  the  eastern  management  holds  the  present  a 
good  time  to  settle  some  of  the  issues  that  have  been 
growing  for  years." 


258  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

There  followed  in  Butte  the  policy  of  "curtailment", 
and  of  employment  of  miners  on  partial  time,  and  their 
discharge  by  foremen  and  shift  bosses  on  trivial  pretexts, 
with  the  invasion  of  the  "bohunks",  or  more  ignorant  and 
unskilled  workmen,  from  southern  Europe,  such  as  have 
been  employed  to  "regulate"  American  labor  in  the  steel 
trust  and  coal  mine  industries  of  the  country. 

In  the  furtherance  of  this  enterprise  to  save  copper 
while  it  was  low  and  labor  while  it  was  high,  the  combine 
managers  gave  the  public  but  a  few  days'  notice  and  no 
better  explanation  than  that  the  action  was  necessary  be- 
cause of  the  low  price  and  small  demand  for  copper.  At 
this  time  the  newspaper  organs  of  the  combine  in  Butte 
and  Anaconda,  and  elsewhere  in  Montana,  dwarfed  the 
news  of  this  public  misfortune  to  the  utmost  and  used 
whatever  influence  they  had  to  reconcile  the  public  with 
adversity.  No  effort  of  any  kind  was  made  by  either 
combine  agents,  business  men's  organizations,  public  offi- 
cials, or  other  favorite  agencies  of  combine  management, 
to  impress  upon  either  the  managers  or  the  public  the 
great  importance  of  averting  this  industrial  and  business 
calamity.  There  were  no  meetings  of  business  men,  of 
labor  unions,  or  private  citizens,  to  protest  against  the 
injury  or  to  persuade  those  responsible  that  every  influ- 
ence and  resource  should  be  exhausted  to  prevent  the 
disaster.  This  shut-down  policy  was  continued  through- 
out the  winter  season,  and  the  hardships  imposed  upon 
wage-earners  and  their  families  were  multiplied  or  in- 
creased materially  by  unprecedently  high  prices  for  the 
necessities  of  life,  promoted  and  maintained  by  petty  lo- 
cal combines  from  the  days  of  the  wild-cat  stock  boom. 
Just  a  little  more  than  a  year  later,  with  mining  opera- 
tions not  yet  restored  to  normal  volume,  and  with  wage- 
earners  and  business  men  yet  struggling  to  recover  from 


SHUT-DOWN    SCARES    IN    PRACTICAL    USE  259 

the  losses  of  enforced  idleness  and  against  the  conditions 
imposed  by  the  advent  of  the  new  labor  element  with  its 
lower  standard  of  living,  the  shut-down  scare  was  again 
invoked  by  the  combine  management,  more  ostentatiously 
than  ever  before,  in  an  attempt  to  intimidate  the  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  and  influence  the  department 
of  justice  of  the  national  government. 

On  December  3,  1908,  The  Butte  News,  an  afternoon 
paper,  printed  a  dispatch  from  Washington  announcing 
a  meeting  between  the  president  of  the  United  States  and 
citizens  of  Deer  Lodge  county,  plaintiffs  in  what  was 
known  as  the  "Smoke  Case",  the  action  to  recover  dam- 
ages or  secure  compensation  from  the  copper  combine  in- 
terests for  injuries  to  crops  and  livestock  and  farms  from 
poisonous  fumes  in  the  smoke  of  the  Anaconda  smelters. 
It  was  announced  that  the  president's  attention  had  been 
directed  to  damages  alleged  to  have  been  done  to  timber 
in  the  forest  reserve  from  this  smelter  smoke,  and  that 
he  had  been  urged  to  authorize  the  beginning  of  an  ac- 
tion to  enjoin  the  company  from  continuance  of  opera- 
tions of  the  kind  described.  The  combine's  avowed  or- 
gan, The  Butte  Intermountain,  of  the  same  day,  contained 
no  reference  to  this  news,  and  the  Butte  and  Anaconda 
papers  of  Friday  morning  gave  evidence  of  no  alarm  and 
no  unusual  public  interest.  But  on  Friday  morning, 
without  stimulus  of  newspaper  advertising  or  sensation, 
it  suddenly  became  reported  that  wholesale  disaster  was 
imminent,  and  the  emergency  was  so  great  that  a  local 
organization  of  Butte  business  men  could  not  be  called 
together  in  time  to  act,  although  some  of  its  chief  officers 
were  officers  or  employees  of  constituent  companies  of 
the  combine,  and  the  executive  committee  of  this  organi- 
zation forwarded  to  Washington  by  wire  a  protest  against 
action  by  the  government  adversely  to  the  copper  cor- 


260  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

poration.  The  next  day  The  Anaconda  Standard,  The 
Butte  Miner  and  The  Butte  Intermountain  were  em- 
ployed to  extend  the  hysterics  with  great  headlines  and 
with  exaggerated  imaginary  tales  of  catastrophe  to  follow 
if  the  public  was  not  aroused  to  remonstrance  in  suffi- 
cient force  to  give  pause  to  presidential  action.  Public 
meetings  were  held,  the  atmosphere  was  charged  with 
oral  warnings  from  combine  agents,  commercial  bodies  in 
various  cities  of  the  state  were  started  in  motion  and  in 
resolution,  city  councils  adopted  memorials  and  protests, 
senators  and  congressmen  from  Montana  in  Washington 
were  appealed  to,  Managing  Director  Ryan  in  Washing- 
ton fathered  dispatches  which  were  printed  in  combine 
papers  and  quoted  in  public  meetings  called  by  combine 
agents  to  excite  public  sentiment  to  dissipate  the  danger 
of  distress  foreshadowed  as  about  to  spread  over  the 
state.  The  news  was  twenty-four  hours  old  in  Butte  be- 
fore the  combine's  organs  took  it  up  as  worthy  of  ex- 
ploitation and  editorial  comment.  The  excitement 
reached  zenith  within  forty-eight  hours,  and  the  whole 
subject  had  disappeared  from  the  columns  of  the  combine 
papers  in  Butte  and  Anaconda  within  seventy-two  hours 
after  their  sudden  alarm.  The  smoke  case  had  been  in 
federal  court  in  Montana  for  three  and  a  half  years,  and 
Judge  Hunt  had  had  it  "under  advisement"  for  nearly  a 
year.  Any  action  by  the  government  for  an  injunction 
would  necessarily  come  through  the  same  court,  if  not, 
indeed,  the  same  judge.  As  a  matter  of  fact  these  pro- 
ceedings were  instituted  months  after,  and  years  after 
were  ended,  temporarily  at  least,  by  the  most  extraor- 
dinary stipulation  entered  into  between  the  combine  man- 
agement and  Attorney  General  Wickersham,  described 
in  another  chapter. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  was  that  the  farmers  of  the 
Deer  Lodge  valley,  in  their  obstructed  chase  for  justice, 


SHUT-DOWN    SCARES    IN    PRACTICAL    USE  261 

had  been  learning  from  their  adversaries.  Frequently 
confronted  with  the  use  of  public  agencies  and  influences 
by  the  private  corporation,  they  had  appealed  to  the  agri- 
cultural department  at  Washington,  and  competent  offi- 
cials had  been  sent  out  to  investigate  the  effect  of  smel- 
ter smoke  on  vegetation  and  livestock.  Some  of  these 
officials  had  been  important  witnesses  before  the  master 
in  chancery  in  the  prolonged  litigation,  and  reports  to  the 
department  from  competent  and  unprejudiced  govern- 
ment agents  stated  conditions  to  be  existing  which  en- 
titled the  government  as  well  as  the  farmers  to  compensa- 
tion for  damages  done.  As  a  rancher  in  the  west  years 
before,  President  Roosevelt  had  become  acquainted  with 
the  stockmen  of  Montana,  including  some  of  those  who 
had  claims  against  the  copper  combine  for  damages  done. 
When  government  agents  made  reports  which  substan- 
tiated the  claims  of  citizens  Mr.  Roosevelt  knew  to  be 
reliable  and  responsible,  and  the  latter  appealed  to  him 
for  aid  in  their  unequal  combat  with  the  combine  and 
the  powers  of  government  which  it  had  enlisted  in  Mon- 
tana, there  was  a  meeting  at  the  White  House.  Some 
of  the  farmers  were  there  with  their  attorneys.  Mr. 
John  D.  Ryan  was  there  with  other  combine  represen- 
tatives, and  the  two  United  States  senators  from  Mon- 
tana were  there,  as  well  as  officials  from  the  national 
department  of  justice.  It  was  an  informal  effort,  in  a 
somewhat  formal  way,  to  arbitrate  serious  differences. 
Here  was  where  the  tremendous  artificial  excitement 
in  Montana  was  wanted  and  needed.  Senator  Dixon,  as 
in  duty  bound,  presented  telegrams  addressed  to  him 
from  Montana  people  inspired  by  combine  agents,  and, 
after  one  reading  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  had  commented 
on  its  character  and  purpose,  further  reading  of  similar 
protests  was  dispensed  with  by  mutual  consent.     It  was 


262  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

reported  from  an  authority  present  at  the  time  that,  after 
some  presentation  of  pertinent  facts  from  a  variety  of 
sources,  President  Roosevelt  turned  to  Managing  Di- 
rector Ryan  and  asked  him  directly  why  his  company 
did  not  settle  the  damages  which  it  imposed  by  its  op- 
erations. Up  to  this  time,  as  the  story  was  told,  all  of 
the  parties  to  the  conference,  including  United  States 
senators,  had  arisen  to  their  feet  when  addressing  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  It  was  stated  that  Mr. 
Ryan,  who  was  seated,  nonchalantly  crossed  one  leg 
over  the  other,  and  smilingly  replied,  "That's  a  debat- 
able question,  Mr.  President."  It  was  further  declared 
that  there  was  emphatic  pronouncement  of  the  asser- 
tion that  questions  asked  there  were  not  debatable,  and 
that  teeth  internationally  famous  came  together  with 
a  snap  which  closed  the  conference;  as  Senator  Carter 
was  no  less  emphatically  informed  when  he  essayed  his 
justly  renowned  role  of  peacemaker  and  harmonizer. 
This  may  or  may  not  explain  why  the  Montana  news- 
papers and  other  agencies,  which  had  been  so  vigorously 
engaged  in  working  up  the  shut-down  scare,  so  abruptly 
dropped  the  subject. 

The  manner  and  method  of  arousing  public  fear  and 
creating  public  panic  with  this  shut-down  scare  is  ad- 
mirably shown  by  quotation  of  a  part  of  the  public  state- 
ment made  by  the  head  of  the  combine's  legal  depart- 
ment in  Montana  at  that  time,  Mr.  Cornelius  F.  Kelly, 
later  promoted  to  become  managing  director.  He  at- 
tributed, properly  enough,  to  the  farmers  whom  he  was 
dragging  to  poverty  through  dilatory  and  extravagant 
court  proceedings,  some  part  of  the  responsibility  for  the 
proposed  government  action.  The  smoke  case  was  still 
pending  before  Judge  Hunt,  and,  while  declaring  that  he 
had   refrained   from    publicly   discussing  cases   in   court, 


SHUT-DOWN    SCARES    IN    PRACTICAL    USE  263 

he  made  a  partisan  statement  for  the  public  on  this  oc- 
casion, which  was  printed  in  The  Anaconda  Standard, 
and  in  which  he  is  quoted  as  having  said : 

"Not  content  to  await  a  decision  (of  the  'smoke  case') 
after  having  the  fullest  opportunity  to  present  their 
claims,  upon  the  flimsy  pretext  that  the  United  States 
government  is  being  damaged  by  injury  to  the  scrub 
timber  about  Anaconda,  they  seek  to  exert  the  powerful 
influence  of  the  government  to  do  that  which  in  its  re- 
sult means  the  destruction  of  many  millions  of  dollars 
of  invested  capital,  not  by  the  companies  owning  the 
mines  and  smelters  alone,  but  by  the  thousands  who 
have  invested  their  savings  and  capital  in  Butte  and 
Anaconda,  to  destroy  these  communities  and  injure 
others  not  so  directly  dependent  upon  the  mining  busi- 
ness here;  to  drive  more  than  100,000  people  from  their 
homes ;  to  throw  out  of  employment  permanently  25,- 
000  men,  and  to  effect  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  the  larg- 
est industrial  factor  in  Montana." 

Accepting  the  palpable  exaggerations  of  this  state- 
ment as  legal  verbiage  and  surplusage  permissible  to 
the  profession,  it  is  pertinent  as  helpful  to  the  public  un- 
derstanding of  this  public  announcement  to  say  that  all 
the  claims  of  the  Deer  Lodge  valley  farmers  and  all  the 
injury  to  government  forest  reserve  from  smelter  smoke 
fumes  could  have  been  permanently  satisfied  at  that 
time  for  about  one-fifth  the  amount  which  the  combine 
operators  took  from  stock  investors  through  over-cap- 
italization of  the  Heinze  properties  when  reorganized;  or 
by  just  about  the  amount  of  the  commission  charged  by 
Messrs.  Cole  and  Ryan  to  the  investing  public  for  buy- 
ing the  Speculator  Mining  company  property  and  or- 
ganizing the  North  Butte  Mining  company;  or  by  what 
combine  officials   and  agents  swindled   from   the  people 


264  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

of  Montana  and  their  eastern  friends  through  the  Barnes- 
King  gold  mining  deal ;  or  by  one-thirtieth  of  the  pure- 
ly watered  stock  in  the  Greene-Cananea  Mining  Com- 
pany of  Mexico,  which  Cole  and  Ryan  organized  and 
"let  the  public  in  on"  at  par  value ;  or  by  one  five-hun- 
dredth part  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  copper  combine 
itself  which  it  had  been  advertised  as  likely  to  have  in 
the  enlarged  merger  which  Mr.  Ryan  was  credited  with 
work  to  accomplish.  Mr.  Kelly  knew  what  it  would 
cost.  But  in  justice  to  Mr.  Kelly  it  should  be  added 
that  in  that  serious  emergency  he  was  employed  to 
scare  the  public  and  not  to  inform  it. 


The  Grabbing  of  Water  Power 
and  Public  Utilities 

With  a  docile  governor  and  tractable  lawmakers  fill- 
ing the  atmosphere  and  the  official  records  of  Montana 
with  profound  assurances  of  great  concern  for  the  con- 
servation of  the  natural  resources  of  the  state  for  public 
benefit,  corporations  related  to  or  having  mutual  inter- 
ests with  the  copper  combine  group  of  financiers  have 
appropriated  or  acquired  practically  all  of  the  great 
water  powers  and  the  water  rights  necessary  to  the  de- 
velopment of  such  power.  This  action  was  supple- 
mented by  systematic  and  thorough  endeavors  to  se- 
cure a  monopoly  of  the  public  utilities  of  light  and 
power,  with  franchises,  in  the  principal  cities  through- 
out the  state.  In  Anaconda,  and  to  less  extent  in  Butte, 
control  of  these  utilities  was  acquired  by  the  Amalga- 
mated company  with  its  mining  and  smelting  properties. 
At  Great  Falls,  under  lease  rights,  there  had  been  suc- 
cessful experiment  in  developing  electric  power  for  use 
in  the  smelters.  The  value  of  this  power  was  better 
demonstrated  by  the  Amalgamated  Company  after  the 
construction  of  a  power  plant  on  the  Missouri  river  at 
Canyon  Ferry  near  Helena  and  the  transmission  of  the 
electric  power  to  Butte.  The  inestimable  wealth  in 
water  power  rights  and  privileges  in  Montana  seemingly 
was  not  realized  by  the  high  financiers  in  the  east  until 
the  agitation  of  the  subject  by  government  officials,  and 
the  proclaiming  of  conservation  of  these  resources  as 
one  of  President  Roosevelt's  favorite  policies,  made  the 

[265] 


266  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

question  of  ownership  one  of  urgent  interest  to  both  the 
public  and  the  speculators  in  public  necessities.  The 
corporate  management  lost  no  time  in  mere  discussion 
of  the  subject.  It  employed  its  newspaper  organs  and 
politicians  in  that  work,  and  other  men  practiced  in  quiet 
action  for  the  more  important  undertaking  of  grabbing 
the  water  rights  while  there  was  yet  time  and  oppor- 
tunity. 

As  early  as  the  year  1900  Mr.  Paris  Gibson,  a  pioneer 
of  Montana,  the  accredited  first  citizen  in  founding  and 
building  the  city  of  Great  Falls,  had  made  strong  effort 
to  inform  the  public  of  the  value  of  the  power  of  the 
Missouri  river  at  that  point.  In  an  article  published  in 
The  Rocky  Mountain  Magazine  that  year,  he  declared : 
"In  magnitude  the  falls  of  the  Missouri  are  unsurpassed 
in  the  United  States  except  by  the  falls  of  Niagara.  The 
power  available  here  at  the  medium  flow  is  ten  times 
greater  than  that  of  the  Mississippi  river  at  Minneapolis, 
and  thirty  times  either  that  of  Lowell,  Lawrence, 
Holyoke  or  Lewiston."  Mr.  Gibson  presented  facts  in 
detail  to  show  the  comparatively  greater  ease  and  econ- 
omy in  developing  power  at  the  falls  of  the  Missouri 
river,  with  other  advantages  superior  to  those  of  Nia- 
gara. It  had  been  the  dream  of  his  life  in  Montana  to 
see  the  agricultural  lands  of  that  state  developed  into 
green  fields  and  the  great  water  power  harnessed  for 
the  manufacture  of  flour.  He  lived  to  see  the  value  of 
the  land  for  grain-growing  uses  recognized,  and  the 
value  of  the  power  demonstrated  by  its  development  and 
transmission  to  remote  parts  of  the  state,  for  use  in 
mines  and  smelters  and  to  supply  light  and  power  for 
rival  cities,  under  the  ownership  of  a  foreign  combine 
and  for  the  enrichment  of  Wall  street  speculators.  At 
about  the  same  time  three  separate  companies,  organized 


THE    GRABBING    OF    WATER   POWER  267 

under  the  laws  of  other  states,  took   possession   of  as 
many   available   damsites  on   the   Missouri    river   above 
Great  Falls.     Similar  enterprises  by  allied  or  cooperat- 
ing interests  were  employed  in  western  Montana,  and  to 
secure   developed   power   on   the   Madison   and  Yellow- 
stone  rivers   in   the  southern   and   eastern   parts  of  the 
state.     When  the  year  1911  was  reached,  practically  all 
the  desirable  dam  sites  and  water  power  privileges  on 
the  Missouri  river,  the  Yellowstone,  the  Madison,  and 
the  Clark's  Fork  of  the  Columbia  in  western  Montana, 
were   under   monopoly  control,   with   accredited   owner- 
ship of  the  control  centered  in  a  few  Napoleons  of  finance 
with  headquarters  in  Wall  Street.     The  power  at  Great 
Falls  had  been  acquired  by  John  D.  Ryan  and  John  G. 
Morony,   and   by  them   transferred.     The   United   Mis- 
souri River  Power  company  had  absorbed  the  Missouri 
River  Power  company  and  the  Helena  Power  and  Trans- 
mission company  and  had  increased  their  combined  cap- 
ital stock,  or  replaced  it,  from  a  par  value  of  $4,200,000 
to  a  total  of  $10,250,000.     This  was  not  known  to  the 
public  in  Montana  till  February,   1909,  when  copies  of 
instruments   necessary   to   legalize   the    deal    were    filed 
with  the  secretary  of  state.    Yet  according  to  the  articles 
of  incorporation  the  United  Missouri  River  Power  com- 
pany was  organized  on  February  15,  1906.     These  two 
absorbed  companies  had  been  widely  advertised  and  ex- 
ploited as  Montana  enterprises,  owned  by  Montana  men, 
and  to  be  operated  as  public  utilities,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  people  of  the   state.     The   articles  of   incorporation 
showed  that  the  three  incorporators  of  the  new  merger 
all  lived  in  New  York.     The  total  amount  of  stock  paid 
in  money  was  stated  to  be  $250,000,  and  the  total  not 
paid  with  money  was  $9,999,000;  it  was  declared  that 
the  assets  consisted  of  "franchises,  water  rights,  power 


268  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

plants  and  lines,  capital  stock,  bills  receivable,  property 
not  included  under  these  heads,  sinking  fund  and  cash", 
with  a  total  face  value  of  assets  amounting  to  $12,236,- 
702.33  and  an  actual  cash  value  of  assets  of  $5,277,202.33 ; 
that  the  liabilities  were  $5,096,026.91.  In  other  words, 
if  the  statement  meant  anything,  it  meant  that  there  was 
a  total  investment  of  all  kinds  approximating  $5,000,000 
in  these  water  power  properties,  with  about  $7,000,000 
in  water  securities  as  a  basis  for  fixed  charges  to  furnish 
a  basis  for  charges  to  the  public.  This  company  was 
later  put  through  the  hands  of  a  receiver  and  some  of 
the  water,  temporarily,  and  most  of  the  outsiders  per- 
manently,  squeezed  out. 

Newly  developed  power  at  Great  Falls  was  trans- 
mitted to  Butte  and  Anaconda  and  utilized  in  both 
mines  and  smelters  of  the  copper  combine.  It  was  also 
carried  to  Billings,  where  the  local  lighting  company 
had  been  absorbed,  giving  the  combine  organization  in- 
terests and  influences  and  profits  in  eastern  Montana. 
No  attempt  will  be  made  here  to  detail  the  many  oper- 
ations, with  dummy  corporations  and  agents,  and  the 
special  legislation  and  litigation  in  both  state  and  na- 
tional legislative  houses  and  public  courts,  to  accom- 
plish and  validate  this  monopolization  of  power  and 
light  and  water  facilities  in  the  state  of  Montana.  It 
is  doubtful  if  any  one  individual  or  group  of  men  em- 
ployed in  the  task,  from  the  local  lobbyist  among  alder- 
men to  John  D.  Ryan  himself,  would  be  capable  or  qual- 
ified for  such  an  undertaking  in  explanation. 

Under  the  laws  of  Montana,  procured  by  the  combine 
influences,  even  the  holding  companies  for  these  widely 
distributed  local  organizations  can  be  made  to  disappear 
and  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  company  can  buy  all 
of  the  stocks  or  bonds  or  properties,  and  operate  them, 


THE    GRABBING    OF    WATER    POWER  269 

and  juggle  their  bonds  and  securities,  and  pay  for  every- 
thing with  Anaconda  stock,  and  have  everything  a  part 
of  the  property  and  a  part  of  the  business  of  the  Ana- 
conda Copper  Mining  company.  This  is  authorized  by 
the  laws  of  Montana,  passed  for  such  special  purposes 
by  the  same  interests  which  operate  the  single  and  all 
allied  corporations,  and  which  in  recent  years  have  had 
no  good  excuse  for  fearing  prosecution  by  state  admin- 
istration, or  too  strict  interpretation  of  constitutional 
provision  adversely  to  combine  interest  in  the  improb- 
able emergency  of  a  serious  test  in  courts  of  these  cor- 
ruptly procured  statutes. 

In  1911  this  combination  of  big  business  was  exact- 
ing tribute  from  the  public  for  light  or  power  or  water 
supply,  and  in  at  least  one  instance  for  all  three,  from 
the  public  in  the  cities  of  Butte,  Great  Falls,  Anaconda, 
Billings,  Kalispell,  Lewistown,  and  many  smaller  places. 
In  almost  none  of  these  cities  were  rates  for  such  ser- 
vice reasonable  by  any  calculation  based  upon  actual 
investment  or  cost  of  operation.  In  nearly  all  of  these 
cities  conditions  have  been  created  or  obtained  which 
make  either  competition  or  public  ownership  practically 
impossible,  either  through  debt  limitations  on  munici- 
palities or  by  restrictions  of  complicated  laws,  or  be- 
cause of  monopoly  rights  secured  by  the  combine  inter- 
ests in  the  natural  resources  of  a  great  state.  The  far- 
reaching  influence  of  the  organization  and  the  seeming 
helplessness  of  the  public  in  efforts  to  secure  public 
officials  or  servants  free  from  the  prevailing  taint  of 
combine  power  was  displayed  in  Butte,  where  the  city 
attorney,  a  devoted  apostle  of  socialism  and  elected  on 
the  socialist  ticket,  had  for  some  years  been  retained  by 
the  year  as  counsel  and  attorney  for  one  of  the  electric 
companies    engaged    in    the    business    of    perfecting    the 


270  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

electric  monopoly  within  the  state — a  fact  generous  in 
tribute  to  corporate  monopoly's  non-partisan  political 
strength  as  well  as  to  the  socialist  leader's  skill  in  his 
chosen  occupational  profession. 

The  combine  interests  are  not  compelled  to  rely  ex- 
clusively upon  combine  powers  or  the  employment  of 
official  influence  for  the  acquisition  of  these  great  rights 
and  profits  in  perpetuity.  With  their  superior  facilities 
for  directing  public  sentiment,  the  promoters  frequently 
succeed  in  securing  the  support  of  favorable  popular  ex- 
pression in  the  communities  to  be  plundered,  and  large 
measure  of  fervent  communal  gratitude  in  return  for 
generous  promises.  How  these  results  are  obtained  may 
be  sufficiently  well  illustrated  by  the  reproduction  of  a 
single  one  from  among  hundreds  of  the  newspaper  arti- 
cles judiciously  placed,  all  equally  well  calculated  to  in- 
vite popular  approval  of  combine  works.  This  one  is 
taken  from  The  Butte  Intermountain,  official  home 
journal  of  foreign  corporations,  edited  under  the  per- 
sonal direction  of  Mr.  John  D.  Ryan  in  New  York,  or 
of  his  private  secretary  in  Butte.  This  article  was 
printed  while  Messrs.  Ryan  and  Morony,  through  a 
townsite  company,  were  peddling  real  estate  in  Great 
Falls  to  the  public  as  a  side  line  of  the  business  of  trans- 
ferring the  great  water  power  at  that  point  to  monopoly 
control  and  transmitting  it  away  from  Great  Falls,  for 
combine  use  or  sale  in  other  cities : 


THE    GRABBING    OF    WATER    POWER  271 

"GREAT  FALLS  HAS  A  GREAT  FUTURE. 


"Millions  Are  About  To  Be  Spent  In  Developing  Resources. 


'TO  PUT  IN  A  WIRE  FACTORY. 


"Copper  Wire  To  Be  Supplied  for  Entire  Western  Country. 


"  'I  predict  that  Great  Falls  in  the  next  five  years  will 
be  one  of  the  best  and  most  prosperous  cities  in  the 
west,'  said  a  man  this  morning  who  is  a  close  observer 
of  events  and  one  who  has  a  good  general  knowledge  of 
business  conditions.  'Mr.  John  D.  Ryan  and  his  asso- 
ciates who  compose  the  Great  Falls  Power  and  Town- 
site  company,'  continued  the  gentleman  in  question, 
'will  spend  in  the  next  few  years  $5,000,000  in  building 
dams  and  the  construction  of  a  large  power  plant,  to- 
gether with  an  electric  line  into  Butte  to  provide  power 
for  the  Butte  mines.  In  addition  to  this  Mr.  Ryan  and 
his  company  will  build  a  wire  factory  at  Great  Falls 
and  make  wire  from  the  Butte  copper  with  which  to 
supply  the  copper  wire  market  from  the  Missouri  river 
to  the  Pacific  coast.  It  is  also  proposed  to  build  a  plate 
glass,  carbide  and  bi-cement  factory  to  be  operated  in 
connection  with  the  power  company.' 

"The  Boston  News  Bureau  of  Tuesday  last  in  an  ar- 
ticle on  the  electrification  of  railroads  says : 

"A  contract  has  been  entered  into  between  the  Great 
Falls  Water  Power  Company  and  the  St.  Paul  Railroad 
company  whereby  the  former  company  will  for  a  period 
of  twenty-five  years  supply  the  latter  with  25,000  horse- 
power per  annum. 

"The  Great  Falls  company  up  to  six  months  ago  was 
controlled  by  James  J.  Hill  and  associates,  but  at  that 
time  John  D.  Ryan  and  several  colleagues  obtained  con- 


272  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

trol  and  at  present  the  management  is  engaged  in  con- 
structing two  large  dams.  The  company  is  now  under 
contract  to  supply  power  to  the  Boston  &  Montana  smel- 
ter at  Great  Falls  and  has  taken  contracts  for  approxi- 
mately 50,000  horsepower  a  year. 

"Not  until  the  end  of  next  year  will  the  Great  Falls 
company  be  in  position  to  generate  power  for  its  new  cus- 
tomers from  the  two  dams  now  being  built.  The  capacity 
will  be  further  increased  when  three  additional  dams, 
now  in  contemplation,  will  have  been  finished. 

"The  portion  of  the  St.  Paul,  which  will  obtain  its 
power  supply  from  the  Great  Falls  company,  is  that  run- 
ning over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  while  no  estimate 
of  the  amount  of  copper  to  be  used  is  available,  it  will  be 
a  very  considerable  amount.  For  transmission  wire  on 
the  new  contract  just  booked  the  company  will  use  4,000,- 
000  pounds  of  copper. 

"From  Truckee,  California,  west,  the  Southern  Pacific 
is  making  preparations  to  electrify  a  single  line  of  its 
mountain  division  over  the  Sierra  Nevada  range.  When 
in  operation  it  is  expected  that  capacity  over  the  line 
will  be  doubled. 

"  'The  railroads  of  the  country,'  says  an  interest  iden- 
tified with  the  Great  Falls  company,  'will  commence 
their  electrification  in  the  not  distant  future. 

'  'The  Illinois  Central  railroad,  I  was  told  last  week 
on  my  way  through  Chicago,  would  soon  electrify  its 
local  and  suburban  services  in  that  city,  and  the  other 
roads  also  centering  in  Chicago  will  be  obliged  to  follow 
suit.  All  of  these  actions  make  for  an  assured  consump- 
tion of  copper.'  " 


Wild-Cat  Era  In  Banking  and 
Stock-Jobbing 

In  1905  there  was  inaugurated  at  Butte  an  era  of 
wild-cat  operations  in  banking  and  stock  gambling,  dur- 
ing which  the  craze  to  get  rich  quick  became  epidemic 
and  grew  in  violent  intensity  until  it  culminated  in  the 
financial  ruin  of  most  of  its  victims  with  the  Wall  Street 
panic  of  1907.  Within  these  three  years  more  than  150 
mining  companies  were  organized  in  or  about  the  Butte 
mining  district,  no  one  of  which  developed  a  paying 
mine.  The  aggregate  par  value  of  the  stocks  of  these 
companies  exceeded  $200,000,000.  These  worthless  to- 
kens of  promised  prosperity  were  peddled  wherever  fool- 
ish people  with  funds  to  buy  could  be  found  throughout 
the  United  States.  It  never  can  be  told  how  great  a  tax 
was  thus  levied  upon  folly  to  be  paid  by  industry.  Bank- 
ers became  stockbrokers,  barbers  were  promoters,  cigar 
peddlers  were  changed  to  officials  of  $5,000,000  com- 
panies, newspaper  reporters  were  transformed  into  mine 
experts  and  "mining  editors"  in  a  day,  wage-earners 
made  permanent  investment  with  sole  regard  for  the  fu- 
ture, gamblers  neglected  their  professional  duties  for  the 
easier  and  faster  game  in  which  everybody  was  winning. 
That  distinguished  county  in  Indiana,  once  described  by 
a  Chicago  promoter,  where  nobody  could  sell  a  gold 
brick — "because  everybody  had  one",  possessed  little  if 
any  advantage  over  Butte  when  this  mining  stock  boom 
was  done.  Of  course  the  mad  rush  to  secure  much  for 
little,  or  something  for  nothing,  was  not  confined  to  Butte 
within   Montana  while   it  was  being  extended   to  other 

[27.3] 


274  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

cities  throughout  the  country.  None  of  the  capitalizations 
or  organizations  of  the  big  companies  belonging  to  the 
combine,  or  others  then  independently  operating  pro- 
ductive mines  in  Butte,  is  included  in  the  foregoing  sum- 
mary of  companies  and  capitalizations.  A  few  of  these 
new  exploitations  were  organized  by  honest  men  who 
honestly  expended  in  development  work  the  money  re- 
ceived from  stock  buyers.  The  majority  of  them  were 
sharpers'  schemes  to  swindle  the  public,  and  the  strength 
of  the  craze  rather  than  the  good  character  of  the  enter- 
prise was  shown  frequently  when  good  men  of  good  pub- 
lic reputation  were  induced  to  allow  the  use  of  their 
names  in  the  organization  of  companies  and  the  sale  of 
stocks  by  notoriously  unscrupulous  operators.  Few  men 
of  good  repute  in  official  or  private  life  escaped  tempta- 
tion in  this  form ;  and  many  were  unable  to  resist  it. 
Reference  has  been  made  to  that  public  sensibility  and 
regard  for  proprieties  which  resented  the  official  connec- 
tion of  judges  of  a  high  court  with  a  party  newspaper 
organ  at  Helena.  Apparently  there  was  no  such  refine- 
ment of  public  opinion  antagonistic  to  doubtful  mining 
stock  promotion  during  boom  times.  In  the  ocean  of 
stock  flotation  there  were  certificates  of  interest  in  the 
Butte  and  London  Copper  Development  company,  incor- 
porated under  the  laws  of  Arizona,  January  8,  1906,  with 
a  "capital  stock  of  $5,000,000,  1,000,000  shares,  five  dol- 
lars a  share."  This  stock  was  quoted  on  the  curb  in  Bos- 
ton and  New  York  as  well  as  in  Butte,  and  sold  in  large 
quantity  as  far  away  as  London,  England.  The  price  to 
outsiders  reached  a  high  figure  during  the  excitement. 
Some  of  the  money  went  for  development  work  and  some 
for  promotion.  The  report  filed  in  Montana  for  this  com- 
pany, January  1,  1907,  in  compliance  with  state  laws, 
contained  this  much  information : 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  275 

"1.  The  name  of  the  corporation  is  the  Butte  and 
London  Copper  Development  company.  Its  principal 
place  of  business  outside  the  state  of  Montana  is  at  Phoe- 
nix, Arizona.  Its  principal  place  of  business  within  the 
state  of  Montana  is  at  Butte,  County  of  Silver  Bow,  in 
said  state. 

"2.  The  amount  of  the  capital  stock  is  $5,000,000. 

"3.  The  amount  of  its  capital  stock  paid  in  is  $5,000,- 
000  in  property. 

"4.  Its  assets  consist  of  'Greendale  Placer  Claim', 
value  of  $5,000,000;  mining  machinery,  buildings,  im- 
provements, etc.,  $162,808.34;  cash  on  deposit,  $264,- 
717.84. 

"5.  Its  liabilities  consist  of  current  expenses." 

This  was  signed  by  The  Butte  and  London  Copper 
Development  company,  "Theodore  Brantly,  President", 
and  attested  by  the  seal  of  the  corporation.  Mr.  Brantly 
was  Chief  Justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state  of 
Montana.  The  stock  of  the  company  is  no  longer  quoted  in 
eastern  market  reports  as  published,  nor  in  demand  in 
Montana.  The  pursuit  of  copper  veins  in  this  particular 
placer  claim  has  ceased.  The  $5,000,000  property  is  most 
accurately  described  by  the  lamented  Mark  Twain's  defi- 
nition of  a  mine  as  "a  hole  in  the  ground,  owned  by 
a  liar".  There  never  was  manifestation  of  public  disap- 
proval of  this  use  of  judical  position  to  promote  the 
sale  of  stock  issued  on  an  undeveloped  mining  claim, 
possibly  because  there  were  so  many  private  citizens  as 
well  as  public  officials  with  glass  exposure  in  their  busi- 
ness habitations. 

For  this  experience  in  wholesale  stock  swindling,  as 
for  most  of  their  serious  misfortunes,  the  people  of  Mon- 
tana were  indebted  in  greater  part  to  the  enterprise  and 
influence   and   dishonesty  of  the   Amalgamated   Copper 


276  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

combine  "high  financiers"  and  managers.  Conditions 
at  that  time  appeared  to  be  perfect  for  the  completion  of 
the  original  plan  of  the  financial  kings  to  create  a  mon- 
opoly of  the  copper  industry  after  the  fashion  of  the  steel 
trust.  The  battle  with  Heinze  had  been  won,  the  coun- 
try was  prosperous,  the  price  of  copper  advancing,  and 
the  demand  for  the  product  was  being  maintained  not- 
withstanding increasing  production.  Cole  and  Ryan 
were  employed,  seemingly  on  combined  salary  and  com- 
mission basis,  to  bring  outside  copper  properties  within 
combine  control  at  public  expense.  North  Butte  was 
their  first  undertaking.  The  Speculator  mine,  a  produc- 
ing property,  belonged  to  the  Largey  estate.  A  price 
had  been  placed  upon  it  and  the  property  had  been  re- 
ported on  by  combine  experts,  and  not  purchased,  in  pre- 
vious years.  Early  in  1905  Cole  and  Ryan  took  hold  of 
the  project  with  a  valuation  of  about  $5,000,000,  and  with 
this  property  organized  the  North  Butte  Mining  com- 
pany with  a  capital  stock  of  $6,000,000.  With  the  influ- 
ence at  their  command  they  succeeded  in  floating  the 
stock  at  par.  Within  a  few  months  a  strike  of  rich  ore  in 
an  adjoining  property  acquired  by  the  company,  aided 
by  a  rising  copper  market,  started  North  Butte  stock  on 
its  celebrated  balloon  flight.  Almost  without  a  serious 
halt  this  stock,  with  a  par  value  of  $15  a  share,  soared 
above  $100,  and  for  a  short  time  had  higher  market 
value  than  Amalgamated  with  a  par  value  of  100  per 
share.  Some  Butte  friends  of  Ryan,  who  had  bought  the 
stock  at  par  and  who  had  been  advised  that  it  would  be 
put  about  $25,  sold  out  before  it  reached  $30;  and  some 
of  them  bought  in  again  above  $40,  and  $50,  and  $60,  a 
share.  Butte  people  went  wild  with  enthusiasm  and  Cole 
and  Ryan  were  proclaimed  mining  kings  from  Dublin 
Gulch  to  WTall  Street.     Heinze's  properties  were  taken 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  277 

over  for  S10,500,000  and  floated  at  $15,000,000,  and  the 
boomers  gave  the  stock  a  market  value  of  more  than 
$40,000,000,  without  dividends  enough  for  a  long  enough 
period  to  satisfy  any  kind  of  investor  relying  upon  actual 
earnings.  It  was  too  easy.  By  a  series  of  manipulations 
with  a  moribund  copper  company  organized  in  Minne- 
sota, with  undeveloped  claims  in  Mexico,  new  incorpora- 
tions, high  financial  juggling,  and  the  investment  of 
something  like  half  a  million  dollars,  Messrs.  Cole  and 
Ryan  got  possession  of  Col.  W.  C.  Greene's  properties  at 
Cananea,  Mexico, organized  the  Greene-Cananea  company 
with  a  capitalization  of  $50,000,000  and  gave  to  that  stock 
in  boom  times  a  market  value  above  par.  All  of  these 
stocks  were  unloaded  in  large  quantities  in  Butte  and 
Montana,  as  well  as  the  certificates  of  the  myriad  of 
companies  incorporated  to  operate  in  and  about  Butte. 
Mr.  Ryan's  visits  to  Butte  had  become  infrequent,  but 
the  echoes  of  his  voice,  real  or  fabricated,  were  heard 
everywhere.  He  professed  disapproval  of  the  wild-cat 
enterprises  being  fostered  in  the  big  copper  camp  and 
gave  assurances  that  men  associated  with  those  com- 
panies and  holding  official  position  in  the  Amalgamated 
organization  would  be  compelled  to  quit  either  those 
companies  or  their  conection  with  Amalgamated.  But 
these  assurances  were  not  given  publicly,  and  in  the 
summer  and  fall  of  1906  there  was  concocted  and  worked 
out  of  Amalgamated  offices — with  the  knowledge  and  co- 
operation of  Mr.  Ryan  himself  and  with  the  use  of  the 
influence  of  combine  organization  and  the  active  partici- 
pation of  Ryan's  most  intimate  friends  and  business  as- 
sociates,— as  barefaced  a  swindle  of  the  public  and  as 
conscienceless  a  betrayal  of  friends  as  can  be  cited  from 
the  whole  record  of  rascal  enterprise.  The  scheme  ulti- 
mately became  widely  known  as  the  Barnes-King  mining 


278  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

swindle.  In  its  relative  proportions  to  Amalgamated 
copper  or  Greene-Cananea  crimes  against  the  investing 
public,  it  was  as  petty  larceny  to  piracy.  The  Barnes- 
King  mine  was  a  gold  property  located  in  Fergus  county, 
Montana,  owned  for  a  number  of  years  by  Messrs. 
Barnes  and  King,  who  had  derived  modest  fortunes  from 
their  industry  in  working  it.  An  option  on  this  property 
at  approximately  $750,000  was  obtained  by  A.  J.  Camp- 
bell, political  manager  and  lobbyist  for  the  copper  com- 
bine under  Ryan,  and  John  Lalor,  who  had  been  private 
secretary  to  Marcus  Daly  and  after  Mr.  Daly's  death  was 
retained  by  Mrs.  Daly  to  look  after  details  of  business  of 
the  estate.  Campbell  already  had  made  money  in  the 
stock  boom  and  had  gone  to  New  York,  where  he  had  be- 
come a  partner  in  a  stock  brokerage  firm.  Campbell  had 
secured  a  favorable  report  on  the  property  by  a  mining 
engineer.  He  employed  his  former  private  secretary, 
then  holding  a  like  position  with  Mr.  Ryan  in  Butte,  Mr. 
Roy  S.  Alley,  and  W.  W.  Cheely,  business  manager  of  a 
combine  newspaper,  to  place  the  stock  on  commission. 
Early  in  the  proceedings  a  large  number  of  people,  hav- 
ing friendly  relations  or  official  position  with  the  com- 
pany, were  given  confidential  assurances  that  a  particu- 
larly rich  find  had  been  made  and  that  it  was  to  be  di- 
vided among  friends  of  the  late  Marcus  Daly.  Similar 
assurances  were  given  that  the  assays  and  expert  reports 
showing  great  wealth  of  gold  in  the  mine  had  been  much 
more  than  confirmed  by  subsequent  assays  secretly  made 
by  Amalgamated  company  experts.  It  was  explained  that 
the  prize  was  comparatively  small  but  exceptionally  sure, 
and  that  it  would  be  difficult  for  anybody  to  get  as  much 
of  the  stock  as  he  would  naturally  want.  Of  course  it 
was  too  small  a  thing  to  be  given  the  time  and  attention 
of  Mr.  Ryan  but  he  had  asked,  according  to  the  informa- 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  279 

tion  peddled,  that  as  much  of  the  stock  as  could  be 
spared  should  be  assigned  to  him.  Two  companies  were 
formed,  after  the  approved  method  of  combine  organiza- 
tion, one  to  float  the  property  and  the  other  to  own  and 
operate  it.  Long  before  any  stock  subscription  was  open 
there  was  a  widespread  and  keen  demand  for  such  a  gilt- 
edge  investment  under  such  favorable  auspices.  This 
property,  purchased  for  less  than  $1,000,000,  was  capital- 
ized at  $2,000,000,  four  hundred  thousand  shares  at  $5  a 
share,  payable  one-half  when  stock  was  subscribed  on  a 
certain  given  date  and  the  balance  several  months  later; 
with  abundant  assurance  that  before  the  second  payment 
would  become  due  the  price  of  the  stock  would  be  ad- 
vanced to  at  least  $10  a  share  on  the  market.  These  con- 
fidential communications  had  been  carried  to  Great  Falls, 
and  Helena,  and  Missoula,  and  Anaconda,  together  with 
information  that  a  certain  part  of  the  stock  was  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  New  York  "friends",  under  the  loving 
guardianship  of  the  late  Marcus  Daly's  son-in-law.  The 
stock  was  oversubscribed  as  was  anticipated.  More  than 
$500,000  in  certified  checks  and  drafts  on  New  York  to 
pay  one-half  for  all  stock  assigned  to  Butte  was  collected 
by  the  agents  in  one  evening.  The  stock  did  not  rise  as 
promised.  Perhaps  it  occurred  to  too  many  of  the  stock- 
holders, after  reflection  or  consultation  with  each  other, 
that  Barnes  and  King  were  experienced  and  successful 
mining  men,  who  knew  the  property  better  than  anyone 
else,  and  who  never  had  done  anything  to  warrant  a  sus- 
picion that  they  would  sell  $2,000,000  worth  of  gold  for 
less  than  $1,000,000.  The  price  sagged  under  efforts  by 
the  once  eager  subscribers  to  secure  themselves  against 
loss  or  liability  for  the  balance  due  on  the  stock.  Mr. 
Lalor  came  to  Montana  from  New  York,  went  to  Fergus 
county,  and  was  given  a  front  page  position  with  large 


280  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

headlines  for  an  interview  in  The  Anaconda  Standard, 
giving  a  glowing  account  of  the  prospects  of  rich  re- 
turns from  the  property.  This  served  to  help  in  collec- 
tion of  some  deferred  payments,  but  did  not  prevent  the 
exposure  and  scandal.  There  was  a  "slump",  and  mut- 
terings  even  by  high  officials  of  the  Amalgamated  com- 
pany about  prosecutions  to  recover  the  money  obtained 
from  them  by  misrepresentation  and  palpable  fraud.  Mr. 
Lalor  was  made  a  scapegoat,  relieved  of  his  position  in 
connection  with  the  Daly  estate,  and  went  abroad. 
Prominent  officials  in  the  Amalgamated  organization 
were  placed  in  charge  of  the  Barnes-King  property  as 
officers  of  the  company,  and  new  assurances  were  given 
to  the  buncoed  subscribers.  Official  reports  showed  that 
there  was  less  than  $50,000  worth  of  ore  developed  or  in 
sight  in  the  property.  Although  there  was  a  large  sum 
of  cash  in  the  treasury,  reserved  for  operating  and  devel- 
opment uses,  and  although  repeated  efforts  were  made 
by  the  new  management  and  by  the  newspaper  organs 
of  the  combine  in  Butte  to  revive  public  confidence  and 
restore  some  symptoms  of  legitimate  enterprise  and  real 
prospects  to  the  company,  Barnes-King  stock  continued 
to  be  quoted  on  the  Butte  exchange  as  low  as  thirty  cents 
per  share,  with  no  bids,  and  ceased  to  be  quoted  on  the 
eastern  curb  at  all. 

This  was  a  very  annoying  experience  to  the  princes 
of  the  royal  plunder  guild.  The  biters  had  been  bitten, 
and  by  their  own  household  pets,  creatures  of  their  own 
training,  proteges  of  their  own  promotions.  It  were  bad 
enough  for  the  shark  to  realize  that  the  sucker  had  been 
nibbling  his  tail,  but  it  was  made  worse  by  the  necessity 
which  compelled  the  sharks  to  advertise  their  humilia- 
tion to  escape  responsibility  and  save  their  previous  repu- 
tations from  the  odium  of  such  a  palpable  fraud.     The 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  2S1 

list  of  Barnes-King  stockholders  was  made  accessible  for 
publication  in  Butte  for  no  better  known  reason  than  to 
convince  the  hundreds  of  victims  in  Montana  that  the 
men  with  and  by  whose  names  the  game  had  been 
worked  were  fellow  sufferers  rather  than  beneficiaries 
from  the  fraud. 

But  Barnes-King  and  the  purely  wild-cat  schemes 
worked  out  of  Butte  were  bagatelle.  The  men  who 
profited  by  them  lost  all  their  profits,  their  original  capi- 
tal, and  their  credit  with  their  cash,  in  the  greater  and 
more  comprehensive  operations  in  and  through  Wall 
street.  According  to  the  market  reports  in  March,  1906, 
North  Butte's  $6,000,000  of  stock  was  worth  $38,000,000 
in  round  numbers.  The  Butte-Coalition  company,  with 
Heinze's  properties  bought  at  $10,500,000  and  capitalized 
at  $15,000,000,  was  selling  on  the  market  on  a  basis  of 
$45,000,000.  The  price  of  Amalgamated  stock  had  ad- 
vanced more  than  100  per  cent,  above  the  low  point  of 
less  than  two  years  before;  and  the  boom  was  not  at  its 
full  height.  Greene-Cananea  with  more  than  $40,000,000 
of  pure  inflation  of  value  was  yet  to  come.  At  that  time 
it  was  reckoned  by  an  experienced  dealer  in  copper  prop- 
erty securities  that  five  corporate  organizations  whose 
real  properties  could  not  be  sold  to  real  buyers  for  real 
money  at  $75,000,000,  had  a  market  value  in  the  stock 
reports  of  about  $350,000,000,  or  nearly  five  times  their 
true  value,  measured  by  any  reasonable  calculation  of 
their  earning  capacity  for  a  period  of  years. 

The  deluge  of  easy  money  for  easy  people  ceased 
falling  in  1907.  When  the  floods  of  watered  stocks  sub- 
sided and  records  of  normal  business  were  restored,  some 
marvelous  low  water  marks  were  noted.  Early  in  Jan- 
uary, 1908,  a  Butte  editor,  with  some  aptitude  for  figures 
and  much  knowledge  of  facts,  calculated  that  during  the 


282  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

preceding  twelve  months  there  had  been  a  shrinkage  of 
$500,000,000  in  the  market  value  of  stocks  of  eighteen 
producing  copper  and  smelting  companies.  He  stated, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  Amalgamated  led  the  proces- 
sion with  a  loss  of  more  than  $100,000,000;  Greene-Cana- 
nea  had  fallen  off  $45,000,000;  North  Butte  $32,000,000; 
Coalition  some  $30,000,000.  For  apparent  causes  these 
all  had  been  prime  favorites  in  Butte.  Heinze's  United 
Copper,  from  a  stock  market  rating  of  $45,000,000,  had 
disappeared  from  the  lists ;  not  even  worth  quoting.  With 
tardy  wisdom  this  servant  of  the  combine  sought  to  com- 
fort the  people  of  Butte  with  explanation  that  stock 
market  prices  are  generally  regulated  by  a  clique  in  New 
York,  that  the  mines  and  the  mineral  wealth  remain,  and 
"While  the  hills  are  stored  with  minerals  and  the  moun- 
tain sides  covered  with  timber,  the  only  thing  that  should 
fill  people  with  genuine  fear  is  famine  or  blight  or  storm." 
It  was  the  wisdom  of  experience,  the  most  valuable 
known ;  but  it  was  not  quite  adequate  to  make  a  Happy 
New  Year  for  many  people  in  Butte.  They  had  lost  their 
money  and  their  stocks.  The  Napoleons  of  the  copper 
market  and  copper  mining  had  destroyed  the  market 
temporarily  and  "curtailed"  production  by  closing  mines. 
Butte  had  a  hardy  and  an  energetic  people,  strong  of 
heart  as  of  muscle,  and  with  keen  appetites  whetted  in 
many  cases  by  lack  of  food ;  but  they  couldn't  eat  the 
timber  on  the  mountain  sides. 

Twin  child  to  wild-cat  stockjobbing,  born  of  high 
finance,  is  wild-cat  banking.  Both  games  are  played  by 
the  operators  with  other  peoples'  money,  with  expecta- 
tion or  hope  of  getting  possession  of  the  money  of  yet 
other  people.  In  Butte  and  some  other  cities  of  Mon- 
tana both  games  are  played  by  the  same  operators,  and 
both  alike  are  boosted  and  protected  by  a  public  press 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  283 

subservient  to  the  same  corporate  combine  influences 
and  interests.  Without  the  practically  unsecured  money 
of  depositors  to  work  with,  there  would  be  little  incentive 
and  less  opportunity  for  wild-cat  banking.  Without  the 
concentration  of  these  moneys  in  New  York  and  their 
availability  for  use  in  rash  speculation,  most  of  those  ex- 
ploitations in  high  finance  which  have  been  recognized 
as  infamous  would  have  been  impossible. 

While  the  subject  of  "guaranteed  bank  deposits"  was 
under  general  discussion  a  few  years  ago,  the  president 
of  the  Montana  State  Bankers'  Association,  in  an  ad- 
dress at  the  annual  convention  of  that  organization,  de- 
claimed long  and  loudly  against  the  proposed  innovation. 
The  highest  position  attained  in  the  banking  business  of 
that  state  by  that  banker  was  the  office  of  president  of  a 
Butte  bank  which  guaranteed  the  value  of  a  big  block  of 
mining  stock  to  assist  in  promoting  the  flotation  of  the 
inflated  certificates  of  value  issued  by  the  Amalgamated 
Copper  company.  Mr.  John  D.  Ryan  was  president  of 
the  Daly  Bank  and  Trust  company  of  Butte  when  the 
mining  stock  was  so  guaranteed ;  and  his  ultimate  suc- 
cessor, who  opposed  guarantees  to  depositors  in  banks, 
was  changed  from  a  bank  cashier  with  a  modest  salary 
in  Great  Falls  to  a  reputed  millionaire  and  a  globe-trot- 
ter within  less  than  five  years  through  operations  with 
stocks.  This  was  not  an  especially  singular  or  peculiar 
example  of  banking  methods  connected  with  stockjob- 
bing in  Montana,  and  these  men  were  included  among 
bankers  described  by  the  public  press  as  "recognized 
over  the  country  for  their  conservative  efficiency."  These 
incidents  are  mentioned  merely  to  show  the  readiness  of 
the  public  to  esteem  men  capable  of  being  rash  specula- 
tors and  conservative  bankers  at  the  same  time,  unless 
trouble  and  public  misfortune  results. 


284  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

After  the  worst  immediate  effects  of  the  panic  of  1907 
had  been  experienced,  a  statement  was  printed  in  The 
New  York  Evening  Post  as  follows:  "Montana  suffers 
with  the  Lake  Superior  country  from  the  shutting  down 
of  many  important  mines  and  the  reduction  of  working 
forces  in  all  the  others.  Nevertheless,  Montana  enjoys 
the  distinction  of  being  the  only  state  in  the  Union  in 
which  none  of  the  banks  resorted  to  clearing  house  cer- 
tificates, cashiers'  checks  or  other  makeshifts.  As  a  con- 
sequence there  is  no  distrust  of  the  banks  in  Montana, 
and  no  disposition  even  on  the  part  of  the  most  timor- 
ous to  hoard."  This  was  grateful  praise  from  Gotham, 
but  not  strictly  true.  It  was  notoriously  untrue.  Yet 
it  was  widely  copied  in  Montana  papers  and  the  occasion 
seized  to  give  some  very  bad  bankers  a  very  good  char- 
acter. To  these  bankers  and  their  speculative  associates, 
the  high  financiers  of  New  York,  Montana  was  indebted 
wholly  for  the  fact  that  the  statement  was  not  true. 
Wild-cat  stock-jobbing  had  robbed  thousands  in  Butte 
and  Montana  of  savings  and  surplus  funds  which  would 
have  carried  the  state  through  the  panic  period  without 
distress  or  failure  if  not  without  serious  apprehension. 
Montana  bankers,  eager  for  the  fat  interest  rates  of- 
fered in  New  York  to  secure  funds  to  be  loaned  at  still 
fatter  rates  to  the  gamblers  on  Wall  Street,  had  sent 
money  to  the  metropolis  in  large  amounts;  and  when 
this  money  was  wanted  and  due,  the  Wall  Street 
gamblers  in  and  out  of  New  York  banks  simply  refused 
to  pay.  So  it  happened  that  when  depositors  in  Mon- 
tana banks,  during  the  stringent  times,  needed  and 
wanted  money,  some  of  these  Montana  bankers  found 
it  difficult  and  others  found  it  impossible  to  pay.  In 
Butte  the  bank  with  the  greatest  number  of  depositors 
of  any  one  bank  in  the  city,  those  depositors  including 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  285 

merchants  and  wage-earners  in  great  numbers,  was 
closed  and  in  the  hands  of  the  state  bank  examiner  for 
a  considerable  time;  and  it  was  long  after  when  de- 
positors were  able  to  secure  full  payment  of  their  claims. 
In  Billings  the  "makeshift"  of  cashiers'  checks  or  clear- 
ing house  certificates  was  resorted  to  and  carried  the 
business  of  the  town  through  the  emergency,  as  hap- 
pened in  other  states.  That  this  scheme  was  not  resorted 
to  in  Butte  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  W.  A.  Clark 
would  not  consent  to  such  action  when  it  was  proposed 
by  other  bankers ;  and  the  further  fact  that  he  was  tak- 
ing care  of  big  pay  rolls  other  than  his  own  placed  him 
in  a  position  where  his  decision  compelled  approval  and 
co-operation.  Mr.  Thomas  Cruse,  a  private  banker  with 
great  resources  and  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  performed 
a  like  service  for  Helena,  according  to  reports  current 
at  the  time.  It  was  stated  that  other  bankers  had  agreed 
to  issue  clearing  house  certificates,  and  even  perfected 
plans  before  consulting  with  Mr.  Cruse.  It  was  also 
reported  that  Mr.  Cruse  was  called  upon  and  asked  if 
he  had  any  objections  to  the  plan.  He  had  none  and 
said  so,  with  the  additional  information  that  he  had  no 
occasion  to  issue  any  certificates  or  paper  to  meet  the 
obligations  of  his  business.  He  was  then  asked  if  he 
would  honor  the  certificates  of  the  other  banks.  As  the 
story  was  told,  his  reply  was,  "I  will  honor  them,  but  I 
will  not  pay  them".  And  the  Helena  banks  did  not  issue 
any.  There  was  in  these  cities,  as  in  others  throughout 
the  state,  generous  forbearance  and  co-operation  among 
business  men  of  all  classes,  to  lessen  the  hardships  to 
the  greatest  extent  possible  and  to  avert  worse  misfor- 
tunes than  those  encountered.  There  was  distrust  of 
some  banks,  and  good  reason  for  distrust,  because  it  was 
quite  generally  known  that  some  of  them  had  acted  in 


286  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

the  capacity  of  brokers  rather  than  bankers  during  the 
stock  craze  and  had  supplied  large  sums  of  money  to 
carry  stocks  purchased  with  only  small  margins  ad- 
vanced by  the  nominal  owners. 

Common  prudence  prompted  intelligent  people  in 
Montana,  as  elsewhere,  to  discourage  action  or  reports 
which  might  stimulate  public  alarm  or  lessen  confidence 
in  the  honesty  and  stability  of  banking  establishments 
in  crisis  times;  but  there  had  been  too  many  examples 
of  flagrantly  corrupt  bank  management  within  the  state, 
and  too  many  people  had  learned  the  dangers  in  over- 
confidence  through  loss  and  suffering  to  make  popular 
or  possible  any  general  reliance  in  creed  or  faith,  in  law 
or  preachment,  which  presumed  that  a  proficient  crook 
becomes  an  honest  business  man  when  he  engages  in 
the  banking  profession.  Widespread  disaster  and  en- 
during hardships  had  been  suffered  through  bank  fail- 
ures in  Helena  and  Great  Falls,  following  the  panic  of 
1893  but  notoriously  attributable  to  the  introduction  of 
wild-cat  methods  in  the  conduct  of  institutions  well  es- 
tablished and  secure  in  public  confidence.  In  the  case 
of  the  First  National  bank  at  Helena,  the  swindled  credi- 
tors had  seemingly  good  grounds  for  subsequent  com- 
plaints that  the  dissipation  of  assets  through  dishonest 
enterprise  was  completed  under  receivership  proceedings 
with  quite  as  little  regard  for  the  rights  and  interests  of 
depositors  as  was  shown  by  a  thievish  management. 
In  the  very  zenith  of  boom  prosperity  previous  to  the 
panic  of  1907,  there  was  given  conspicuous  demonstra- 
tion of  the  perils  to  communal  welfare  in  wild-cat  bank- 
ing by  the  failure  of  the  Aetna  Banking  and  Trust  Com- 
pany of  Butte,  with  exposure  of  a  consistently  criminal 
policy  which  had  been  pursued  throughout  the  career 
of  the  institution  in  the  robbery  of  its  patrons.     Follow- 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  287 

ing  this  exposure,  and  mixed  with  it  to  shield  influential 
crooks  and  to  maintain  public  confidence  in  the  banking 
business,  there  was  given  a  fine  exhibition  of  the  misuse 
of  a  public  press  under  combine  control. 

The  Aetna  Bank,  as  it  was  commonly  called,  was 
known  in  Butte  as  a  Heinze  institution,  and  its  deposits 
were  made  up  largely  from  the  savings  of  wage-earners. 
It  never  was  strong  in  the  esteem  of  business  men,  and 
under  efficient  system  of  government  inspection  or  su- 
pervision of  banks  in  Montana  could  not  have  existed 
at  all.  Its  report  filed  with  the  secretary  of  state  in 
1901  showed  that  it  had  an  authorized  capital  stock  of 
$100,000,  with  capital  stock  actually  paid  in  amounting 
to  $2,500.  The  amount  of  its  assets  by  this  report  was 
$2,500,  and  it  had  neither  liabilities  nor  indebtedness. 
It  was  discovered,  during  the  investigation  of  the  bank 
after  its  failure,  that  the  secretary  and  cashier  had,  al- 
most immediately  following  the  organization  of  the  in- 
stitution, drawn  out  the  $2,500  of  actual  money  and  re- 
placed it  with  his  personal  notes.  The  statement  of  the 
institution,  filed  with  the  secretary  of  state  in  June,  1903, 
and  made  at  the  close  of  business,  May  25,  1903,  re- 
vealed the  fact  that  there  had  been  a  reorganization. 
Mr.  F.  A.  Heinze  had  become  president  and  had  re- 
tained as  secretary  Mr.  A.  B.  Clements,  who  in  the  first 
year  had  given  his  note  for  all  the  actual  assets  of  the 
bank.  A  branch  of  the  institution  had  been  established 
in  the  city  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia.  The 
amount  of  the  capital  stock  remained  at  $100,000,  and 
its  other  liabilities  as  given  in  the  statement  were  de- 
posits of  $293,047.88,  with  undivided  profits  of  $11,- 
589.71.  Its  total  stated  assets  included:  loans  and  dis- 
counts, $289,798.15;  stocks  and  securities,  $46,200;  real 
estate,   furniture  and   fixtures,  $9,247.13;   cash  on   hand 


288  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

and  in  bank,  $59,392.31.  This  bank  was  organized  un- 
der the  laws  of  West  Virginia.  Late  in  the  summer  of 
1903  a  number  of  bankers  in  Montana,  and  evidently  in 
other  places  throughout  the  country,  received  the  fol- 
lowing self-explanatory  letter : 

"loublrfiaE  an&  (Enmpattg 

"St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Sept.  1st,  1903. 

"Gentlemen: — The  Aetna  Banking  and  Trust  Com- 
pany of  Butte,  Mont.,  of  which  Mr.  F.  August  Heinze  is 
president  will  increase  its  capital  stock  to  $1,000,000  with 
a  surplus  of  $500,000  and  open  a  new  bank  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  to  be  conducted  jointly  with  the  bank  at 
Butte.  This  new  issue  of  stock  will  be  sold  by  us  either 
directly  or  through  other  brokers  in  different  localities, 
and  it  is  desirable  that  representative  banking  institu- 
tions in  the  other  centers  of  the  country  shall  act  as 
depositories,  and  receive  payments  for  stock  and  issue 
an  ordinary  conditional  receipt  therefor.  We  will  be 
glad  to  extend  this  business  to  your  bank. 

"The  selections  for  most  of  the  eastern  cities  have 
been  made  and  we  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  you  as  soon  as 
possible. 

"The  stock  is  issued  at  $150  a  share,  $100  par  value 
and  $50  for  the  surplus,  and  the  subscriptions  are  pay- 
able 10%  on  demand  and  10%  on  the  first  of  each  month 
thereafter.  Subscriptions  may  be  bought  for  cash,  and 
then,  of  course,  stock  is  immediately  issued,  and  par- 
ticipates  in    dividends. 

"We  believe  this  sale  will  be  a  popular  one,  and  ought 
to  make  an  item  of  deposit  for  you. 

"We  have  not  as  yet  definitely  closed  with  the  broker 
in  your  city  to  push  the  sale  of  stock  locally,  and  we 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  289 

will  be  glad  to  consider  any  suggestions  or  recommen- 
dations that  you  might  see  fit  to  make  to  us  in  that  con- 
nection.    With  best  wishes, 

"Very  truly  yours, 
(Signed)   "Doubleday  and  Company, 

"Per  E.  R.  S." 

In  response  to  an  inquiry  addressed  to  his  St.  Louis 
correspondent  respecting  the  standing  of  Doubleday  and 
Company,    a    Montana    banker    received    the    following 
reply : 
''Gentlemen : 

"Referring  to  your  favor  of  the  4th  inst.,  in  regard 
to  the  standing  of  Doubleday  &  Company,  St.  Louis,  I 
have  to  say  that  the  only  one  of  the  company  known  to 
us  is  Robert  S.  Doubleday.  He  was  formerly  editor  of 
'Finance',  a  financial  publication  which  went  into  the 
hands  of  a  receiver. 

"We  have  had  some  dealings  with  Robert  S.  Double- 
day,  all  of  which  have  been  unsatisfactory,  and  judging 
from  his  general  reputation  here,  we  would  not  recom- 
mend him.  Mr.  Doubleday  is  not  reputed  as  possessing 
any  tangible  assets  that  would  make  him   responsible. 

"It  is  the  opinion  of  the  informed  ones  here,  that  ex- 
treme caution  should  be  used  in  dealing  with  any  con- 
cern with  which  Mr.  Doubleday  may  be  connected. 

"In  regard  to  the  possibility  of  any  subscription  to 
the  issue  of  stock  to  which  you  refer,  we  are  not  in  a 
position  to  advise  you,  but  believe,  if  parties  will  in- 
vestigate before  purchasing,  he  will  not  sell  much,  if 
any,  here. 

"Mr.  Doubleday  is  also  Secretary  of  the  United  States 
Trust  Company  of  St.  Louis,  a  new  concern  recently 
organized,  whose  officers  and  directors  are  of  about  the 
same  financial  standing  as  himself. 

"Trusting  the  above  will  serve  your  purpose,  I  am," 


290  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

Meanwhile,  in  Butte,  the  Aetna  Bank,  besides  serv- 
ing as  a  depository  for  wage-earners  who  had  saved 
something,  was  being  conducted  practically  as  a  pawn 
shop  for  time  checks  of  employees  of  the  Heinze  mines 
and  smelters  who  found  it  necessary  to  anticipate  pay 
day.  The  practice  was  for  Mr.  Heinze's  bank  to  cash 
the  time  checks  of  Mr.  Heinze's  employees  at  a  discount 
of  ten  per  cent,  for  the  advance.  This  was  something 
better  than  the  regular  pawn  broker's  rate  of  ten  per 
cent,  a  month,  because  it  frequently  happened  that  the 
workmen  would  cash  their  checks  only  a  few  days  prior 
to  pay  day.  Nearly  all  of  these  facts  had  been  published 
in  Butte,  and  all  of  them  were  easily  obtainable  by  a 
state  bank  examiner.  The  Aetna  Bank  continued  in 
existence  till  1906  and  finally  passed  into  the  hands  of  a 
receiver  for  the  national  government,  which  had  super- 
vision over  banking  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  thus 
secured  jurisdiction  in  Aetna  affairs  through  the  Wash- 
ington branch  operations.  When  the  end  came  it  was 
learned  that  the  losses  to  depositors,  nearly  all  people 
with  little  ability  to  withstand  such  losses,  amounted  to 
about  $400,000.  It  also  was  learned  that  Mr.  Heinze 
had  passed  his  management  of  and  interest  in  the  bank 
to  other  people,  and  it  was  claimed  by  and  for  him  that 
he  had  done  this  in  1903,  notwithstanding  reports  and 
correspondence  quoted  above  and  the  more  significant 
fact  that  the  bank  continued  to  carry  his  name  in  some 
of  its  newspaper  advertisements  long  after  that  time. 
The  failure,  or  rather  the  exposure  of  the  shameless  rob- 
bery, was  the  cause  of  much  natural  indignation  and  se- 
vere criticism  of  those  responsible.  Mr.  Heinze  was  at 
the  point  of  his  greatest  prosperity,  reckoned  many  times 
a  millionaire,  and  with  his  former  adversaries  in  the 
Amalgamated  camp   was  engaged  in  booming  coppers, 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  291 

which  facts  furnish  some  pertinent  information  respect- 
ing the  following  letters,  not  contained  in  their  con- 
tents : 

"Butte,  Mont.,  Nov.  28,  1906. 
"Mr.   Eugene  T.  Wilson, 

"Dear  Sir:  You  have  already,  through  my  counsel, 
been  put  in  possession  of  the  written  transfer  made  by 
me  in  1903  of  all  the  stock  held  by  me  in  the  Aetna 
Banking  and  Trust  company,  showing  that  I  parted  with 
my  interest  at  that  time,  and  I  believe  that  you  are  satis- 
fied that  no  legal  liability  has  rested  on  me  since  that 
date  with  reference  to  depositors  or  other  creditors  of 
that  institution. 

"It  has  been  a  matter  of  very  great  regret  to  me  to 
learn  that  very  many  persons  believed  up  to  the  time 
of  your  appointment  as  receiver  that  I  was  still  con- 
nected with  the  bank  and  virtually  controlled  the  same. 
This  belief  existed  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  public 
advertisements  and  statements  put  forth  for  several 
years  showed  that  my  place  as  former  president  and  di- 
rector of  the  bank  had  been  filled  by  others.  However,  I 
am  satisfied  that  a  very  general  unauthorized  use  of  my 
name  has  been  made  in  many  directions  and  I  have  been 
pained  beyond  expression  to  learn  that  the  recent  affairs 
and  business  of  the  bank  have  been  so  dishonestly  con- 
ducted that  practically  all  of  the  assets  have  been  squan- 
dered and  the  depositors  defrauded,  and  it  is  my  earnest 
wish  and  desire  that  every  step  be  taken  to  bring  to  justice 
every  misdoer,  and  that  as  much  as  possible  be  recovered 
for  the  benefit  of  the  creditors,  and  any  assistance  which 
I  can  offer  in  this  regard  I  am  willing  to  and  do  here- 
by extend. 

"However,  I  do  not  propose  to  confine  myself  to  ex- 
pressions of  sympathy  or  regret.     I   am   mored   to  do 


292  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

more  for  those  who  have  lost  so  much  through  their 
belief  in  the  fact  that  my  capital  and  influence  were 
back  of  the  bank,  and  after  giving  the  matter  very  care- 
ful thought  and  consideration,  and  in  full  view  of  the 
fact  that  no  legal  liability  rests  upon  me,  I  have  con- 
cluded to  make  a  voluntary  payment  to  you,  as  receiver, 
of  the  sum  of  $100,000,  that  sum  being  the  amount  of 
the  total  capitalization  of  the  bank  and  the  extreme  limit 
of  legal  liability  which  could  have  been  enforced  against 
me  under  any  theory,  had  I  actually  owned  every  share 
of  the  capital  stock.  This  amount,  added  to  the  avail- 
able assets  of  the  bank,  will  enure  to  the  material  ad- 
vantage of  the  depositors  and  relieve  their  distress. 
"You  will  find  inclosed  my  check  for  $100,000. 
"Very  respectfully  yours, 

"F.  Aug.  Heinze." 


"Butte,  Montana,  November  28,  1906. 
"Mr.  F.  Augustus  Heinze,  Butte,  Montana. 

"Dear  Sir:  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  favor  of  this 
date ;  I  have  heretofore  examined  the  written  assign- 
ment and  transfer  made  by  you  in  1903  of  all  the  stock 
formerly  held  by  you  in  the  Aetna  Banking  &  Trust 
company,  showing  that  you  parted  with  all  your  inter- 
est in  that  institution  at  that  time. 

"In  view  of  this  fact,  I  certainly  appreciate  the  vol- 
untary payment  which  you  made  to  me,  as  receiver  for 
the  benefit  of  the  concern,  and  believe  that  all  who  may 
have  been  induced  to  make  deposits  in  the  Aetna  Bank- 
ing &  Trust  company  by  reason  of  their  mistaken  belief 
in  your  connection  with  that  institution,  will  have  rea- 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  293 

son   to   congratulate   themselves   on    your    magnanimous 
action  in  this  matter. 

''I  acknowledge  receipt  of  your  check  for  $100,000. 

"Thanking  you  in  behalf  of  all  the  creditors,  I  remain, 
"Very  truly  yours, 

"Eugene  T.  Wilson, 

"Receiver." 
This  correspondence  was  given  out  for  publication 
from  the  office  of  the  managing  director  of  the  Amal- 
gamated Copper  company  in  Butte.  The  tune  of  praise 
was  set  in  high  key  by  Butte  and  Anaconda  papers,  and 
the  lavish  applause  echoed  from  the  editorial  columns 
of  the  combine  press  of  the  state  was  well  calculated  to 
fatten  the  huge  vanity  of  Mr.  Heinze,  whatever  effect  it 
may  have  had  upon  his  conscience.  It  was  not  only  as- 
sumed but  asserted  by  these  papers  that  Mr.  Heinze 
had  neither  legal  nor  moral  responsibility  to  the  dupes 
of  the  wild-cat  bank  which  he  had  established  in  their 
confidence  and  operated  for  his  own  profit.  A  paternal 
government  finally  developed  a  less  generous  view  of  the 
conditions,  and  proceedings  were  instituted  by  govern- 
ment officials  to  recover  from  Heinze  the  money  lost 
by  depositors  in  a  bank  which  had  not  been  lawfully 
established  and  conducted  as  a  legitimate  banking  enter- 
prise, with  respect  to  the  laws  either  of  Montana  or  the 
United  States,  however  it  may  be  in  West  Virginia. 

While  Messrs.  Heinze  and  Ryan  were  working  thus 
harmoniously  in  Butte  to  vindicate  the  Heinze  char- 
acter from  responsibility  for  the  Heinze  bank  operations, 
both  Heinze  and  Ryan  were  extending  their  banking  in- 
terests in  larger  fields.  If  any  evidence  should  be  needed 
to  show  the  intimate  relation  between  stock-jobbing  and 
banking,  and  the  tremendous  interest  of  the  Napoleons 
of  high  finance  in  both,  it  ought  to  be  found  in  the  fol- 


294  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

lowing  story,  printed  in  The  Anaconda  Standard,  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1907,  credited  to  the  New  York  Commercial, 
for  long  time  an  organ  of  Amalgamated  interests  in  the 
financial  center  of  the  country : 

"In  Wall  Street  the  impression  is  that  the  establish- 
ment of  this  house  is  the  direct  desire  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Copper  company  and  the  tremendous  interest 
closely  allied  with  it  to  have  a  financial  representative 
among  the  banks  controlled  by  men  who  not  only  are 
thoroughly  in  touch  with  the  copper  interests,  but  un- 
derstand their  wants  and  needs. 

"News  of  the  intended  formation  of  the  National 
Copper  bank  came  from  Washington,  the  application  to 
organize  having  been  approved  by  the  comptroller  of 
the  currency.  The  bank  is  to  have  a  capital  of  $2,000,- 
000  and  a  surplus  of  the  same  amount,  fully  paid  in ;  it 
will  begin  business  about  May  1,  in  the  new  Trinity 
building  at  115  Broadway  and  the  incorporators  are 
John  D.  Ryan,  Thomas  F.  Cole,  W.  A.  Paine,  Urban  H. 
Broughton  and  W.  B.  Dickson. 

"The  names  given  as  incorporators,  which  also  are 
mentioned  in  the  application  to  the  comptroller  of  the 
currency  at  Washington,  are  well  known  in  mining  and 
business  circles.  John  D.  Ryan  is  president  of  the  Ana- 
conda Copper  company,  managing  director  of  the  Amal- 
gamated Copper  Company  and  one  of  the  controlling 
factors  in  the  Butte  Coalition,  Greene  Consolidated  and 
Cananea  Central  companies.  William  A.  Paine  is  president 
of  the  Copper  Range  Consolidated  company.  Thomas 
F.  Cole  is  president  of  the  Oliver  Mining  company,  the 
mining  end  of  the  United  States  Steel  corporation, 
president  of  the  Butte  Coalition  and  Greene-Cananea 
companies  and  identified  with  the  Calumet  &  Arizona, 
Superior  &  Pittsburg  and  many  other  mining  companies. 


WILDCAT    ERA    IN    JOBBING  295 

U.  H.  Broughton  is  president  of  Utah  Consolidated  and 
managing  director  of  the  United  Metals  Selling  com- 
pany. W.  B.  Dickson  is  first  vice  president  of  the 
United  States  Steel  corporation  and  a  director  of  the 
Butte  Coalition  company. 

"Mr.  Ryan,  in  connection  with  Mrs.  Marcus  Daly, 
the  latter  being,  it  is  said,  also  interested  in  the  new 
bank,  owns  a  chain  of  banks  in  the  principal  cities  of 
Montana.  Messrs.  Cole  and  Ryan  are  stockholders  in 
two  of  the  largest  banks  in  Michigan,  the  First  National 
of  Calumet  and  the  First  National  of  Hancock;  Mr.  Cole 
also  is  understood  to  be  interested  in  banks  in  Duluth 
and  in  the  iron  mining  districts.  The  Greene  Consoli- 
dated Copper  company,  controlled  by  the  Cole-Ryan 
combination,  owns  the  Bank  of  Cananea,  in  Mexico.  Mr. 
Ryan  is  better  known  in  connection  with  the  new  finan- 
cial enterprise  than  any  of  the  other  incorporators.  In 
speaking  of  the  new  institution  he  said : 

"  'People  connected  with  the  large  copper  interests 
of  the  country  have  agreed  to  join  in  the  enterprise. 
The  bank  will  do  a  general  banking  business,  but  will 
pay  particular  attention  to  mining  interests.  The  min- 
ing industry  has  reached  such  large  proportions  as  to 
convince  one  that  a  bank,  the  interests  of  which  are 
familiar  with  the  affairs  of  mining  companies,  will  be  a 
desirable  institution. 

"  'The  copper  companies  are  very  strong,  from  the 
standpoint  of  surplus  cash,  and  we  hope  to  make  this 
bank  of  material  assistance  in  making  a  good,  profitable 
and  safe  use  of  the  surplus  funds  of  the  companies  that 
do  business  with  it.  The  interests  identified  with  the 
organization  of  the  bank  expect  to  do  a  large  business 
with  country  banks,  particularly  banks  located  in  the 
mining  sections.     In  addition   to  the  men  directly  con- 


296  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

nected  with  the  copper  business,  a  large  number  of 
bankers  in  the  mining  districts  of  the  country  have  be- 
come interested  in  the  enterprise/ 

"It  has  been  known  for  some  time  in  the  financial 
district  that  the  copper  interests  represented  by  the 
Amalgamated  company  and  the  companies  affiliated 
with  and  subsidiary  to  them  wanted  a  bank.  The  new 
institution  has  a  tremendous  field  to  work  in,  as  the 
bankers  of  this  city  never  have  paid  much  attention  to 
the  mining  industry.  Therefore  the  organizers  of  the 
National  Copper  bank  believe  such  an  organization  as 
this  will  be  freely  patronized  and  begin  business  with 
a  heavy  line  of  deposits.  Apart  from  the  Amalgamated 
and  its  constituent  corporations,  it  is  estimated  that  the 
treasuries  of  the  companies  controlled  by  the  men  who 
will  be  connected  with  the  new  bank  now  are  holding 
not  less  than  $35,000,000  in  cash,  and  possibly  more. 

"The  Heinze  interests,  which  are  not  altogether  in 
harmony  with  those  which  are  backing  the  National 
Copper  bank,  have  a  banking  group  of  their  own.  F.  A. 
Heinze  recently  was  elected  president  of  the  Mercantile 
National  bank,  while  his  selection  as  president  of  the 
Consolidated  National  bank  has  given  some  color  to 
the  belief  that  E.  R.  Thomas  and  his  associates  have 
allied  themselves  with  the  copper  combination  repre- 
sented by  Mr.  Heinze.  The  scope  of  the  banking  am- 
bitions of  the  so-called  Heinze  copper  men  is  revealed, 
to  date,  by  their  election  to  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  eight 
New  York  banks  and  two  trust  companies.  These  have 
a  combined  capital  of  $5,900,000,  surpluses  of  more  than 
$7,000,000  and  deposits  of  more  than  $40,000,000." 


Losses  to  Public,  to  Industry,  and  to 

Investment,  through  Combine 

Enterprise 

A  stock  plea  by  lobbyists  and  promoters  in  behalf  of 
combine  enterprise,  to  secure  public  support  or  tolera- 
tion for  schemes  in  exploitation  or  confiscation  of  re- 
sources by  stock-jobbing  corporations,  is  found  in  the 
claim  that  outside  capital  is  necessary  to  development 
and  is  beneficial  to  other  interests  within  the  state.  The 
favorite  justification  for  combine  usurpation  of  the  pow- 
ers of  government  and  for  the  corruption  of  political 
agencies  is  based  on  the  pretense  that  these  crimes  are 
necessary  to  protect  the  great  interests  of  such  corpora- 
tions in  their  legitimate  business.  Such  pleas  and  ex- 
planations by  and  for  the  Amalgamated  Copper  combine 
in  Montana  are  in  direct  conflict  with  the  pleas  and  ex- 
planations, offered  by  other  promoters  and  "cappers" 
for  the  same  gamesters,  to  influence  investors  in  stocks 
and  bonds  in  New  York  and  Boston  and  elsewhere.  In 
those  places,  as  the  files  of  combine  organs  will  prove, 
investment  is  enticed  with  alluring  reports  of  marvel- 
ously  rich  natural  resources  secured  in  Montana,  and  of 
great  economies  and  gains  for  stockholders  through 
combine  control  of  affairs  in  that  state.  At  both  ends 
of  the  line,  and  in  all  places,  all  these  pleas  and  explana- 
tions are  designed  and  made  to  accomplish  the  decep- 
tion and  robbery  of  somebody.  The  most  expert  sta- 
tistician employed  by  the  complex  corporate  organiza- 
tion, with  all  its  finely  detailed  reports  available  to  his 

[297] 


298  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

use,  would  be  perplexed  to  show  where  or  when  the 
projectors  or  managers  have  invested  in  copper  prop- 
erties in  Montana  any  money  which  was  not  taken  out 
of  Montana ;  or  where  or  when  they  have  invested  in 
other  enterprise  in  that  state  outside  capital  which  was 
not  borrowed  or  obtained  by  them  with  natural  or  pub- 
lic resources  of  Montana  as  security,  for  the  amount  of 
the  actual  investment  several  times  over,  and  with  a 
wholesale  swindling  of  the  actual  investors  by  gross 
over-capitalization  or  jobbery  in  watered  stocks. 

The  copper  combine  management,  when  it  organized, 
found  the  copper  industry  in  Montana  developed  and 
being  operated  with  mutual  prosperity  for  its  owners, 
its  employees,  and  the  business  public  of  the  state.  It 
compelled  the  stockholders  to  pay  more  than  twice  what 
the  property  cost  to  obtain  it  from  the  owners,  thus 
practically  securing  to  the  management  possession  and 
control  of  the  properties  without  expense  to  itself.  In 
subsequent  operations  in  Montana  and  in  the  stock 
markets,  this  management  has  imposed  great  loss  and 
hardship  upon  wage-earners  and  business  men  in  Mon- 
tana and  upon  its  stockholders  everywhere.  The  chief 
men  in  this  management  have  not  only  caused  loss  to 
stockholders  by  depreciation  of  stock  values  and  by  lack 
of  adequate  dividends  from  earnings,  but  they  have 
swindled  these  investors  through  organizations  within 
the  organization  as  well  as  by  use  of  company  influences 
and  resources  in  outside  enterprises  wherein  Amalga- 
mated stockholders  had  neither  interest  nor  share  in 
gain.  That  is  not  all  this  enterprising  aggregation  of 
Napoleons  of  high  finance  have  done  for  the  people  of 
Montana,  and  for  the  investing  public  everywhere  that 
copper  mining  stocks  have  found  purchasers.  By  com- 
bine methods  in  furtherance  of  monopoly  enterprise  they 


LOSSES    THROUGH    COMBINE    ENTERPRISE  299 

have  destroyed  or  discouraged  the  development  or  oper- 
ation of  independent  copper  mining  companies,  have  de- 
creased the  production  and  increased  the  cost  to  con- 
sumers, and  at  the  same  time  by  their  stock-jobbing 
swindles  have  brought  the  mining  industry  into  disre- 
pute as  a  security  for  stock  investment. 

Here  are  a  few  of  the  specific  results  in  the  way  of 
development  in  the  state  of  Montana  through  copper 
combine  enterprise  and  management  since  the  year  1900: 
Seven  great  independent  and  competing  copper  mining 
companies  have  been  reduced  to  one.  The  net  earnings 
or  profits  which  formerly  went  in  large  part  to  citizens 
of  Montana  now  go  to  outsiders.  Four  great  smelting 
and  reduction  works,  under  separate  ownership,  man- 
agement and  operation,  in  the  city  of  Butte,  have  been 
closed  down  and  dismantled,  with  loss  of  employment 
to  thousands  of  men,  consequent  loss  of  population  to 
the  city,  and  resulting  loss  in  trade  to  business.  The 
great  copper  refinery  constructed  at  Anaconda  has  been 
closed  for  nearly  ten  years,  and  copper  produced  in  Mon- 
tana is  refined  in  the  east.  The  wage-earning  popula- 
tion in  mining  and  smelting  towns  within  the  state  has 
been  largely  changed  from  home-building  citizens,  with 
American  ideals  and  standards  of  living,  to  immigrants 
from  southern  Europe,  who  to  a  large  extent  live  herded 
together  in  filthy  tenements,  under  conditions  which 
would  be  intolerable  to  family  life,  and  by  means  which 
conduce  neither  to  public  health  nor  business  prosperity. 
There  have  been  four  complete  or  partial  suspensions 
of  operation  in  combine  mines  and  smelters  within  a 
period  of  eight  years,  for  the  various  purposes  of  influ- 
encing state  legislation,  of  intimidating  or  weakening 
wage-earners,  or  to  secure  higher  prices  for  copper  by 
curtailment  of  production.     Montana  has  been  compelled 


300  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

to  yield  to  Arizona  place  and  prestige  as  the  leading 
copper  producing  state  of  the  country.  A  report  of  the 
United  States  geological  survey,  published  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1912,  shows  that  the  production  of  copper  in 
Montana  in  1911  was  decreased  from  that  of  the  pre- 
ceding year  by  11,960,848  pounds.  The  reports  of  com- 
bine organs  and  stock  exchange  journals  show  that  this 
decrease  was  the  result  of  an  agreed  policy  of  copper 
combine  promoters  to  increase  prices  by  reducing  pro- 
duction. The  same  report  by  the  United  States  depart- 
ment shows  that  for  the  same  year  the  state  of  Arizona 
increased  its  production  over  that  of  the  last  previous 
year  by  8,650,387  pounds.  In  Arizona  the  greatest  cop- 
per producing  properties  are  not  owned  by  the  copper 
combine. 

That  is  not  all.  While  the  combine  management  has 
obtained  ownership  or  control  of  nearly  all  the  developed 
mining  properties  in  the  Butte  district,  there  are  hun- 
dreds of  undeveloped  claims  adjoining  or  near  its  prop- 
erties. It  is  asserted  that  owners  of  these  claims  are 
confronted  with  a  combine  policy  which  destroys  the 
value  of  the  properties  so  far  as  the  owners  are  con- 
cerned. The  experience  of  the  Tuolumne  Mining  com- 
pany, the  Butte  and  Balaklava  company,  W.  A.  Clark, 
J.  A.  Murray,  and  other  less  prominent  operators  in  the 
camp,  demonstrates  that  an  independent  mining  enter- 
prise is  under  constant  menace  of  litigation  with  the 
combine  organization,  under  conditions  which  make 
justice  unprofitable  through  expense  if  not  impossible 
of  attainment.  It  is  believed  by  some  of  the  owners  of 
these  undeveloped  claims  that  the  big  company  has  de- 
termined not  to  purchase  new  claims  in  the  district.  Its 
own  claims  are  scattered  over  the  district  and  it  has 
been  charged  that  the  company  has  pursued  the  policy 


LOSSES    THROUGH    COMBINE    ENTERPRISE  301 

which,  in  previous  times,  it  complained  so  loudly  against 
as  pursued  by  Mr.  Heinze.  The  Heinze  operation,  as 
proven  in  federal  court,  was  to  sink  a  shaft  on  his  own 
property,  prospect  the  surrounding  country  under- 
ground, and  where  valuable  ore  bodies  were  found  the 
ore  was  extracted  with  no  redress  for  the  owner  of  the 
claim  from  which  it  was  taken  excepting  proceedings  in 
courts  in  a  community  where  Heinze  influences  con- 
trolled the  election  of  judicial  as  well  as  other  public 
officials.  Mr.  Heinze  was  finally  overtaken  and  con- 
victed because  his  victim  was  the  combine  corporation 
with  ample  resources  to  compete  with  him  both  in  de- 
velopment work  and  in  litigation.  Most  of  the  owners 
of  undeveloped  claims  in  the  Butte  camp  at  the  present 
time  are  not  able  financially  to  sink  shafts  1,500  or  2,000 
feet  to  ore  veins,  and,  if  they  were  and  did  so,  they  have 
the  experience  of  other  independent  operators  with  real 
or  threatened  litigation  by  the  combine  to  discourage 
such  enterprise.  The  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  com- 
bine adoption,  and  perfection  in  use,  of  the  Heinze  plan 
might  be  combine  honesty ;  and  a  prominent  official  of 
the  combine  has  been  credited  with  casual  remark  that 
it  is  cheaper  to  law  the  owners  out  of  a  claim  than  to 
purchase  it. 

The  real  influence  of  the  copper  combine  and  its  part 
in  the  growth  and  development  of  the  state  are  indicated 
most  convincingly  by  the  census  returns.  All  of  the 
great  copper  mines  and  the  great  smelters  of  the  combine 
company  are  located  in  the  counties  of  Cascade,  Deer 
Lodge  and  Silver  Bow.  In  these  counties  are  located 
Butte  and  Great  Falls,  the  first  and  second  cities  of  the 
state  in  population,  and  Anaconda,  which  was  close  in 
the  race  for  third  place  prior  to  Amalgamated  company 
organization.    In  these  cities  five  of  the  largest  and  most 


302  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

widely  circulated  daily  newspapers  of  the  state  are  pub- 
lished, and  in  all  three  there  are  organizations  maintained 
to  co-operate  with  the  papers  to  promote  the  growth  of 
the  towns.  The  census  returns  of  1910  show  that  the 
population  for  the  state  of  Montana  increased  during  the 
preceding  ten  years  54.5  per  cent.  During  the  same  per- 
iod the  population  of  Cascade,  Deer  Lodge  and  Silver 
Bow  counties,  together,  increased  8.6  per  cent.  In  1900 
those  three  counties  contained  more  than  one-third  of 
the  total  population  of  the  state.  In  1910  there  were 
seven  agricultural  counties  in  Montana  each  one  of 
which  had  shown  greater  increase  in  population,  and 
greater  development  in  material  progress,  than  the  three 
counties  dominated  by  copper  combine  interests  and 
influences  taken  together.  Deer  Lodge  county,  where 
combine  rule  and  ruinous  methods  are  most  complete, 
showed  an  actual  loss  in  population  for  that  census  per- 
iod, after  due  allowance  for  loss  of  part  of  its  territory 
by  a  county  division. 

In  Butte  and  Anaconda,  the  allied  interests  have  ap- 
plied combine  methods  and  monopoly  plans  as  rapidly 
and  as  completely  as  possible  to  mercantile  and  bank- 
ing business,  and,  to  some  extent,  to  professional  occu- 
pation. The  result  has  been  retiring  merchants,  vacant 
stores,  and  depreciated  values  of  city  realty  for  both 
business  and  residence  uses.  Great  Falls  has  improved 
and  grown  to  an  appreciable  extent  because  it  is  in  the 
center  of  a  large  section  of  agricultural  and  livestock 
country  tributary  to  it,  and  has  benefitted  from  the 
general  growth  of  the  whole  state  in  population  and 
improvement. 

No  one  can  measure  the  losses  to  the  people  of  Mon- 
tana in  material  as  well  as  more  important  things 
through   corrupt  combine   enterprise   in   politics  and   in 


LOSSES    THROUGH    COMBINE    ENTERPRISE  303 

society,  and  through  interference  with  the  conduct  of 
educational,  charitable  and  penal  institutions  in  the 
state,  as  well  as  with  legislatures  and  agencies  of  jus- 
tice. The  mere  financial  cost  to  the  public  has  been 
enormous.  The  tremendous  burden  of  court  expenses, 
the  aggregate  of  which  is  lost  to  public  knowledge  by 
scattering  reports  of  such  charges  through  accounts  of 
county  and  state  departments,  is  largely  due  to  litiga- 
tion growing  out  of  combine  existence  and  combine 
ways  of  business. 

The  rewards  which  the  combine  management  gives 
to  those  who  survive  the  punishment  from  its  operations 
are  not  so  large  as  the  losses  suffered;  but  they  afford 
entertainment,  if  not  nourishment.  In  1910,  after  the 
Anaconda  company — under  the  operations  of  new  com- 
bine laws,  secured  from  the  Montana  legislature  in  1909 
for  the  purpose — had  swallowed  the  Amalgamated 
mergers  with  all  their  contents,  and  absorbed  the  prop- 
erties of  W.  A.  Clark  as  a  relish,  there  was  much  appre- 
hension among  the  people  of  Butte  and  Anaconda  and 
much  business  stagnation.  Whereupon  the  president  of 
a  business  men's  association  in  Butte,  which  in  any 
emergency  is  an  adjunct  of  the  combine  organization, 
wrote  to  John  D.  Ryan  and  received  a  reply.  There- 
upon The  Butte  Miner  of  June  3,  on  its  first  page,  with 
the  large  headlines  printed  in  red  ink,  gave  the  people 
of  Butte  this  strong  stimulant : 


304  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

"JOHN  D.  RYAN  EXTREMELY  OPTIMISTIC  OF  THE  FUTURE 
OF  THE  CITY  OF  BUTTE. 


"Addresses    Reassuring    Communication    to    the    Butte    Business 

Men's  Association — Says  Butte  Will  Maintain  Its  Position  as 

Leading  Copper  Producing  District  of  the  World. 


"Expressing  every  confidence  in  a  greater  Butte, 
both  as  a  leader  in  the  copper  production  of  the  world 
and  as  a  commercial  and  distributing  center.  John  D. 
Ryan,  president  of  the  Amalgamated  Copper  company, 
has  addressed  the  following  characteristically  optimistic 
letter  to  the  Butte  Business  Men's  Association : 

'"New  York,   May  27,    1910. 
"  'Butte    Business    Men's    Association — Herman   Blank, 
Esq.,   President;  Ernest  A.   Hardcastle,   Esq.,  Secre- 
tary, Butte,  Mont.: 

"  'Gentlemen : — I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  letter  of  May  1,  which  would  have  been  answered 
before,  except  for  some  pressing  matters  that  were  of 
interest  to  Butte  that  have  been  under  consideration  in 
the  meantime. 

"  'I  note  your  request  for  an  expression  from  me  re- 
garding the  general  business  outlook  for  the  city  of 
Butte,  and  I  am  glad  to  comply  and  hope  that  by  so  do- 
ing I  can  add  to  the  prosperity  of  the  city  and  the  con- 
fidence of  its  citizens  in  its  welfare.  There  is  nothing 
that  I  can  see  that  should  interfere  with  continued  and 
increasing  prosperity  for  Butte.  Its  mines  are  better 
developed,  more  economically  worked  and,  considering 
the  returns  from  the  sales  of  metal,  more  profitable  than 
they  have  been  at  any  time  in  the  history  of  the  district. 
"  'The  purchase  by  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining 
company  of  the  properties  of  other  mining  companies 
will  insure  stability,  permanence  and  economical  opera- 


LOSSES    THROUGH    COMBINE    ENTERPRISE  305 

tion,  all  of  which  must  be  of  great  advantage  to  the  busi- 
ness community,  because  it  will  mean  extension  of  oper- 
tions  and  steady  employment  of  labor. 

"  'The  price  of  copper  is  quite  low  at  the  present  time, 
but  the  consumption  of  it  the  world  over  is  greater  than 
ever  and  there  is  a  demand,  I  believe,  for  all  that  is  be- 
ing produced  at  the  present  time.  In  isolated  cases  an 
individual  mine  elsewhere  may  produce  copper  cheaper 
than  the  average  cost  in  the  Butte  camp,  but  I  have  for 
years  contended,  and  am  perfectly  sure  I  am  right,  that 
for  every  such  low-cost  producer  there  is  a  mine  in  Butte 
that  will  more  than  match  it  in  cost  per  pound,  and  the 
fact  is  that  the  average  cost  of  the  copper  in  the  Butte 
camp  is  low  enough  to  enable  the  district  to  maintain 
its  position  as  the  leading  copper  producing  district  of 
the  world. 

"  'The  investment  in  the  mines  of  Butte  is  so  large 
that  it  practically  guarantees  continuous  and  increasing 
operations,  and  the  security  of  the  business  community 
and  the  owner  of  property  is  greater  because  of  the  re- 
moval of  all  chance  of  extensive  litigation  that  in  the 
past  has  threatened,  and  might  have  caused,  serious  con- 
sequences, by  preventing  the  working  of  important  pro- 
ducing mines. 

'  'In  short,  I  feel  I  can  say  to  the  people  of  Butte 
and  Montana,  that  the  mining  operations  will  increase 
rather  than  diminish  during  many  years  to  come,  cer- 
tainly more  years  than  most  of  us  will  be  here  to  see, 
that  in  my  opinion  stability  will  result  from  recent  con- 
solidation of  interests  and  that  Butte  should  and  will 
prosper,  extend  and  maintain  itself  as  the  leading  min- 
ing city  of  the  world. 

"  Tn  addition  to  the  mining  interests  of  Butte,  I  feel 
that  the  city  is  bound  to  have  a  great  future  as  a  distrib 


306  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

uting  center.  It  is  situated  so  advantageously  with  re- 
spect to  railroad  communication  that  it  should  be  one  of 
the  important  jobbing  centers  in  the  inter-mountain 
country. 

"  'I  feel  so  sanguine  of  a  long  and  prosperous  future 
for  Butte  that  I  have  been  interesting  myself  in  a  large 
way  in  enterprises  that  are  almost  entirely  bound  up  in 
the  welfare  of  Butte.  Very  truly  yours,  (Signed)  John 
D.  Ryan.'  " 

Despite  these  assurances  of  stability  and  increasing 
operation,  within  six  weeks  the  worthlessness  of  Ryan 
promises  was  demonstrated  by  a  change  in  operations 
cutting  off  Sunday  work  in  the  mines  and  practically  re- 
ducing the  wage-earning  power  of  the  properties,  as  well 
as  the  copper  production,  by  one-seventh  of  the  whole. 
That  this  was  part  of  a  plan  of  curtailment  upon  which 
Mr.  Ryan  had  been  busily  employed  for  months  was 
shown  conclusively  by  articles  reproduced  in  The  Ana- 
conda Standard  on  August  4th,  showing  concert  of  policy 
by  the  big  copper  interests  to  reduce  production  and  to 
advance  prices ;  and  there  is  fine  agreement  between  the 
reduction  of  work  in  the  Butte  mines  and  the  percentage 
of  reduction  predicted  by  the  Wall  Street  Journal  in  this 
paragraph : 

''The  Wall  Street  Journal  says  that  when  the  Ana- 
conda swings  into  line  with  production  diminished  fif- 
teen per  cent,  the  total  output  of  the  mines  taking  part  in 
the  curtailment  movement  will  be  approximately  700,- 
000,000  pounds,  or  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  entire  amount  of 
copper  produced  in  this  country,  Canada  and  Mexico. 
*  *  *  Curtailment  by  properties  in  which  owners 
of  the  foregoing  companies  are  directly  or  indirectly  in- 
terested will  bring  the  total  properties  committed  to  cur- 
tailment to  easily  seventy-five  per  cent.,  if  not  a  greater 
proportion  of  this  country's  production." 


LOSSES    THROUGH    COMBINE    ENTERPRISE  307 

It  was  added  that  "The  United  Metals  Selling  Com- 
pany, the  only  agency  with  any  volume  of  nearby  copper 
for  sale,  holds  the  key  to  the  present  price  situation".  And 
it  might  have  been  added  that  the  United  Metals  Selling 
company  also  was  owned  by  the  Amalgamated  Copper 
combine,  which  thus  held  the  key  to  the  price  situation 
as  well  as  to  the  prosperity  of  the  state  of  Montana. 

Besides  the  loss  in  industry,  in  investment,  in  taxes, 
in  increased  cost  of  government,  in  public  morals  and 
public  service,  there  is  the  great  and  increasing  loss  of 
life  and  health  to  employees  in  the  combine's  properties. 
Each  year  the  state  mine  inspector  reports  the  increasing 
dangers  of  accidents  and  the  growing  need  of  more 
sanitary  conditions  in  the  Butte  mines,  with  recommen- 
dations for  improvement  with  needed  legislation.  Each 
year  a  combine-ruled  legislature  has  ignored  or  neglected 
the  subject  until  in  1911  when  a  committee,  made  up 
largely  of  combine  servants,  was  appointed  to  inspect 
the  mines  of  the  state,  particularly  those  of  Butte,  and 
ascertain  their  condition  in  respect  to  ventilation,  sanita- 
tion, and  safeguards  against  injuries  to  miners.  The 
honorable  committee  spent  two  days  in  Butte,  practically 
with  its  members  as  guests  of  officials  of  the  copper  cor- 
poration, and  returned  to  the  state  capital  with  announce- 
ment that  it  would  receive  evidence  from  miners  and 
mine-owners  concerning  the  state  of  the  mines  under- 
ground; which  was  equivalent  to  saying  that  it  would 
receive  evidence  from  mine  owners  and  from  miners  who 
were  prepared  to  give  such  evidence  as  the  mine  owners 
desired,  because  no  miner  who  wished  to  continue  his 
occupation  in  Butte  would  be  likely  to  present  any  evi- 
dence of  any  other  kind  on  such  an  occasion.  And  the 
proceeding  ended  as  it  was  planned  that  it  should  end 
when    it   was    planned   to   begin.      Meanwhile   "miners' 


308  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

consumption"  has  become  a  disease  common  and  fatal 
in  Butte.  In  his  report  for  that  year  of  1911,  the  state 
mining  inspector  said :  "I  cannot  conclude  this  article 
without  calling  the  attention  of  the  legislative  assembly 
to  this  most  important  question  of  ventilation.  Up  to 
the  present  there  has  been  not  anything  of  vital  im- 
portance done.  In  the  meantime  miners'  complaints  have 
been  rapidly  increasing.  Men  at  the  age  of  forty-five 
have  to  quit  mining  in  search  of  more  congenial  employ- 
ment, and  many  of  them  cannot  work  at  all  and  their  ex- 
istence has  become  merely  a  living  death.  The  mines 
of  Montana  have  earned  millions  of  money  in  dividends 
and  have  made  many  men  wealthy;  surely  it  is  a  reason- 
able request  for  the  miners  to  ask  that  a  portion  be  at 
least  expended  in  ventilation  and  sanitation  in  the  mines 
of  this  state." 

The  legislature  did  not  regard  it  as  a  reasonable  re- 
quest, as  shown  by  its  action. 


A  City  Under  Combine  Rule;    Anaconda 
for  Example 

If  you  should  see  a  flock  of  pigeons  in  a  field  of  corn;  and 
if  (instead  of  each  picking  where,  and  what  it  liked,  taking 
just  as  much  as  it  wanted  and  no  more)  you  should  see  ninety- 
nine  of  them  gathering  all  they  got  into  a  heap;  reserving 
nothing  for  themselves  but  the  chaff  and  refuse;  keeping  this 
heap  for  one,  and  that  the  weakest,  perhaps,  and  worst  pigeon 
of  the  flock;  sitting  round,  and  looking  on  all  the  winter 
whilst  this  one  was  devouring,  throwing  about,  and  wasting 
it;  and  if  a  pigeon  more  hardy  or  hungry  than  the  rest  touched 
a  grain  of  the  hoard,  all  the  others  instantly  flying  upon  it, 
and  tearing  it  to  pieces;  if  you  should  see  this,  you  would 
see  nothing  more  than  what  is  every  day  practised  and  estab- 
lished among  men.  Among  men,  you  see  the  ninety-and- 
nine  toiling  and  scraping  together  a  heap  of  superfluities  for 
one;  getting  nothing  for  themselves  all  the  while,  but  a  lit- 
tle of  the  coarsest  of  the  provision,  which  their  own  labour 
produces,  looking  quietly  on,  while  they  see  the  fruits  of  all 
their  labour  spent  or  spoiled;  and  if  one  of  them  take  or  touch 
a  particle  of  it,  the  others  join  against  him,  and  hang  him 
for  the  theft. 

— Paley's  Moral  Philosophy. 

Most  favored  project  created  from  the  great  brain  and 
weath  and  power  of  Marcus  Daly,  Anaconda  has  been  a 
city  of  many  marvels  in  its  time.  It  was  the  basis  of  his 
worthy  pride,  the  state  capital  of  his  fondest  hope,  to  be 
the  enduring  monument  to  his  successful  work  in  the 
world.  Located  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  at  the 
head  of  a  broad  and  fertile  valley,  there  was  beauty  of 
scenery  and  environment  to  support  the  generous  plans 
with  which  Anaconda  started  as  the  site  of  a  great  and 
prosperous  city.     Greatness  and  prosperity  belonged  to 

[309] 


310  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

it  from  the  start.  The  assured  industry,  with  pay  rolls 
greater  than  most  urban  communities  with  50,000  people 
can  boast  of,  furnished  argument  and  incentive  for  or- 
dinary city  enterprises,  as  well  as  basis  of  support  for 
all.  The  broad  business  streets  were  lined  with  blocks 
occupied  by  competing  merchants  and  thronged  with 
crowds  of  customers  with  means  to  purchase.  The  Mon- 
tana Hotel,  planned  for  the  entertainment  of  statesmen 
and  lawmakers,  was  for  years  advertised  as  "the  hand- 
somest and  most  elegantly  appointed  hotel  in  the  United 
States".  The  leading  theater  was  regarded  worthy  to 
wear  the  name  of  the  wife  of  the  famous  mining  man. 
The  courthouse  in  size  and  cost  compared  favorably  with 
the  first  state  capital,  located  elsewhere  than  the  site  de- 
signed for  it  in  Anaconda.  The  town  was  made  the  prin- 
cipal place  of  business  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining 
company,  and  its  general  offices  were  established  there. 
Its  race  track  and  race  meetings  compared  and  competed 
successfully  with  the  best  in  the  intermountain  country. 
With  a  population  of  less  than  10,000  people,  Marcus 
Daly's  money  and  influence  started  and  established  in 
Anaconda  what  was  for  some  years  the  greatest  and 
most  widely  circulated  newspaper  between  the  Missis- 
sippi river  and  the  Pacific  coast.  Whatever  a  modern 
city  might  need  and  ready  means  could  obtain  belonged 
to  Anaconda.  Among  its  other  adornments  was  a  pub- 
lic library,  endowed  and  maintained  by  private  support, 
which  excelled  similar  institutions  in  rival  cities  through- 
out that  region.  And  there  was,  from  the  start,  the  plan 
for  and  growth  of  the  greatest  smelting  works  in  the 
world.  It  was  a  one-man  town,  of  course,  but  the  town 
of  a  man  prodigal  in  its  support  and  ready  to  welcome  to 
partnership  on  generous  terms  all  who  would  contribute 
to  its  growth  or  glory. 


A    CITY    UNDER    COMBINE    RULE  311 

Polite  society  had  not  then  learned  to  recognize  the 
hog  as  the  king  of  beasts.  The  mines  and  smelters  in 
those  times  were  dedicated  to  the  profits  and  betterment 
of  home  and  city  builders,  instead  of  home  and  city 
builders  being  dedicate  to  the  profits  of  mines  and 
smelters. 

When  the  Amalgamated  Copper  company  acquired 
control  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  company,  it 
secured  possession  of  various  public  utilities,  besides 
the  smelters  and  refineries,  in  Anaconda.  Since  that 
time  it  has  confiscated  the  powers  of  city  and  county 
g  'vernment  and  many  of  the  most  valuable  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  people.  So  many  of  the  inhabitants  at 
the  present  time  as  are  not  creatures  of  servitude,  toiling 
for  the  enrichment  of  non-resident  speculators  and  serv- 
ing them  in  civil  and  in  private  life  as  well  as  in  labor, 
are  under  ban  and  boycott  of  the  combine  power  which 
rules  the  city  with  more  absolute  tyranny  and  terrorism 
than  an  ordinarily  merciful  master  would  exercise  over 
slaves.  The  Daily  Anaconda  Standard  is  still  published, 
but  there  is  no  free  press  in  Anaconda.  There  are  party 
organizations,  and  party  conventions,  and  public  meet- 
ings, and  political  campaigns,  but  there  is  not  freedom 
of  speech  in  Anaconda.  There  are  churches,  and  priests, 
and  preachers,  and  congregations,  but  there  is  not  reli- 
gious freedom  in  Anaconda  because  any  pulpiteer  who 
should  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  Anaconda  and  give 
it  application  to  conditions  which  exist  there  would  scare 
away  his  congregation  and  lose  his  means  of  support. 
Government  is  not  free.  The  ballot  is  not  free.  Ana- 
conda is  called  the  "City  of  Whispers",  because  there  is 
hazard  in  using  the  vocal  organs  above  an  echo  of  the 
master's  voice. 

Would  you  live  in  Anaconda?  Go  to  the  combine's 
townsite  company  and  buy  your  lot.    Go  to  the  combine's 


312  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

lumber  company  and  buy  your  building  material.  Go  to 
the  combine  commercial  company  for  your  furnishings, 
and  for  your  provisions,  and  clothing.  Go  to  the  com- 
bine's water  company  for  your  water  supply.  Go  to  the 
combine's  electric  company  for  your  illumination.  If 
you  are  ill,  the  company  doctor  is  highly  recommended. 
If  you  die,  there  is  a  lot  in  a  cemetery  which  can  be  pro- 
cured by  your  survivors  with  profit  to  the  combine,  and, 
if  a  monument  be  desired,  the  combine  has  a  stone 
quarry. 

You  will  ride  into  Anaconda  by  paying  your  fare  to 
a  combine  railway  conductor,  and  if  you  take  a  street 
car  in  the  town  you  will  do  the  same  thing. 

The  great  smelters  are  just  outside  the  city  limits,  so 
that  they  contribute  nothing  in  the  way  of  city  taxation 
to  the  expenses  of  the  municipal  government  which  they 
use  in  their  business.  A  city  thus  situated,  and  peopled, 
and  governed,  under  the  direction  of  managers  of  a  com- 
bine organized  ostensibly  to  establish  economy  might 
be  cheaply  conducted;  and  in  some  ways  it  is.  But  there 
are  extravagances.  In  1910  it  was  stated  that  the  gen- 
eral fund  of  the  city  amounted  to  $32,965.  With  such 
an  income  the  city  paid  for  lights  and  water,  for  city 
service  only,  during  the  year  1909,  the  sum  of  $17,460, 
a  trifle  more  than  one-half  of  the  entire  city  fund  for 
these  two  utilities  for  public  use.  The  water  is  taken 
from  an  abundant  supply,  supplied  by  gravity  for  smel- 
ter use  as  well  as  city  purposes.  Electricity  is  trans- 
mitted to  Anaconda  from  the  Missouri  river  for  com- 
bine use  at  a  cost  of  less  than  one-eighth  the  price  or- 
dinarily charged  the  city  and  private  consumers  in  Ana- 
conda until  publicity  of  the  extortion  and  a  stubborn 
mayor  secured  from  the  combine  management,  at  one 
sweep,   a    reduction    of   nearly   fifty   per   cent.      Largely 


A    CITY    UNDER    COMBINE    RULE  313 

through  these  extravagant  charges  against  tax-payers 
by  the  combine,  the  city  within  a  few  years  contracted 
an  indebtedness  of  about  $50,000  in  excess  of  the  lawful 
debt  limitations.  The  Daly  Bank  of  that  city,  closely 
connected  with  corporate  interests,  was  reported  to  have 
held  much  more  than  one-half  of  the  securities  of  indebt- 
edness, representing  some  part  of  illegal  indebted- 
ness. Here  was  high  finance  in  a  small  way.  The 
taxpayers  of  Anaconda  were  obliged  to  contribute  in- 
terest money  on  unlawful  city  debts  to  the  profits  of 
combine  corporations,  after  paying  extravagant  charges 
by  the  combine  for  public  services  which  thus  created 
the  unlawful  public  debt. 

In  a  previous  chapter  it  was  told  how  Managing  Di- 
rector John  D.  Ryan,  in  the  year  1907,  utilized  combine 
power  to  end  a  spirited  contest  in  a  school  election  in 
Anaconda,  by  frightening  all  of  the  candidates  to  the 
point  of  withdrawal,  and  compelled  the  selection  of  a 
school  board  through  appointment  from  a  list  furnished 
by  himself.  A  sequel,  indicating  the  effect  of  skillful 
training  of  voters,  by  powerful  influences,  was  furnished 
in  the  school  election  in  Anaconda  in  the  spring  of  1910. 
There  were  approximately  10,000  people  in  Anaconda, 
under  normal  conditions  divided,  as  are  people  of  other 
communities,  by  political,  religious  and  other  questions. 
That  year  the  sitting  members  of  the  school  board  were 
candidates  for  re-election.  No  other  candidates  ap- 
peared or  were  named  by  anybody.  Out  of  10,000  peo- 
ple, more  or  less,  for  an  election  at  which  both  men  and 
women  are  allowed  to  vote,  exactly  ten  persons  regis- 
tered, and  eight  votes  were  cast  at  that  election.  The 
copper  combine  management  of  school  affairs  in  Ana- 
conda plainly  was  more  completely  satisfactory  than 
public  management  of  such  institutions  is  in  any  other 
city  of  the  United  States  of  equal  size. 


314  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

It  is  not  only  by  running  smelters,  and  railroads, 
and  water  companies,  and  lighting  companies,  and  com- 
pany stores,  and  city  government,  and  hotels  and  school 
boards,  and  interest  accounts  on  city  deficits,  that  the 
combine  management  endears  itself  to  the  people  of 
Anaconda  with  its  public-spirited  concern  in  the  wel- 
fare of  those  dependent  upon  it.  It  is  a  great  little 
farmer,  this  $155,000,000  copper  combine  organization. 
It  engaged  in  farming  to  convince  judges  that  farmers 
in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley,  who  were  prospering  at  the 
business  there  before  copper  was  smelted  in  Montana, 
did  not  employ  right  methods  in  farming  if  they  could 
not  conduct  the  business  of  growing  crops  and  livestock 
successfully  under  the  precipitation  of  sulphur  and 
arsenic  from  smelter  stacks.  Among  other  results  of 
the  expensive  experiment  farm  established  by  the  com- 
bine in  the  Deer  Lodge  valley,  was  a  state  fair  exhibit 
in  1910  by  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  company,  of 
pure  breed  Hereford  and  Holstein  cattle.  There  were 
sixteen  prize  creatures,  each  as  carefully  combed  and 
cleaned  as  any  pet  lapdog  of  any  pet  wife  of  any  Na- 
poleon of  finance  in  New  York's  four  hundred;  and  the 
names  of  these  copper  combine  cattle  products  were 
worth  while.  Each  name  was  blazoned  on  a  handsome 
card  hung  above  the  beast,  and  they  were  known  as  fol- 
lows :  Alto  Hesiod,  Priscilla  Mapleton,  Lady  Percifal, 
Rexford,  Derbyl,  Napleton,  Rex  Maximus,  Princess  18th, 
Willow  Druid,  Lady  Percifal  2nd,  Sir  Korndyke,  Willom 
Gerbon  Sylark,  Queen  Colanthe,  Hilda  Colanthe.  From 
its  abundant  resources  the  copper  combine  management 
had  been  able  to  purchase  a  fine  herd  of  thoroughbreds 
from  a  stock  farm  far  remote  from  smelter  smoke,  and  to 
contribute  to  the  fame  of  Anaconda  at  a  state  fair.  But 
it  did  more  with  this  "Willow-Glen  stock  farm".     With- 


A    CITY    UNDER    COMBINE    RULE  315 

out  the  organization  of  any  new  company,  or  any  addi- 
tional capitalization  so  far  as  known,  the  combine  estab- 
lished a  milk  route  in  Anaconda,  and  peddled  fresh  milk 
at  going  prices. 

There  are  amenities  of  life  in  Anaconda,  apart  from 
breathing,  also  under  combine  management  and  direc- 
tion. On  rare  occasions  the  Napoleon  of  finance  to 
whom  the  people  owe  so  many  of  their  blessings,  comes 
from  New  York  to  Butte,  and,  on  very  special  occasions, 
visits  Anaconda.  Then  the  incorporate  gratitude  of  the 
town  bursts  forth  in  all  its  jubilant  spontaneity.  One  of 
these  general  celebrations  was  held  on  a  Saturday  even- 
ing, in  March,  1908,  which  was  exceptionally  impressive. 
To  full  appreciation,  it  should  be  remembered  that  mines 
and  smelters  belonging  to  the  Amalgamated  combine 
were  closed  down,  following  the  stock-gamblers'  panic 
of  1907,  and  the  winter  of  1907-8  was  largely  utilized  by 
the  people  of  Anaconda,  who  were  able  to  remain  in  the 
city  or  unable  to  get  out  of  it,  with  wondering  when  the 
smelters  would  be  started  again.  Mr.  John  D.  Ryan 
had  spent  the  winter  in  Southern  California,  in  part,  and 
the  other  part  in  New  York,  recovering  his  health,  his 
control  of  combine  affairs,  and  some  other  things  of  in- 
estimable value  to  the  people  of  Montana.  Operations 
at  last  had  been  resumed  in  large  part  in  the  great  in- 
dustry, and  Mr.  Ryan  visited  the  state,  and  incidentally 
Anaconda,  to  reassure  the  people  with  his  promise  that 
everything  would  be  prosperous  and  lovely  in  the  future. 
The  account  of  what  happened,  how  it  happened,  and 
by  whom  it  was  helped  to  happen,  is  told  by  the  com- 
bine's official  organ,  certainly  with  best  of  combine  au- 
thority and  approval,  in  The  Butte  Intermountain  of 
March  16,  1908,  in  the  following  graphic  style : 

"Anaconda  gave  John  D.  Ryan  a  surprise  party  on 
Saturday  evening — a   real   old-fashioned   surprise   party, 


316  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

not  the  kind  where  folks  know  that  something  is  coming 
and  get  all  ready  for  it,  but  one  of  those  that  fairly 
sweeps  the  victim  off  his  feet  and  makes  him  feel  as 
though  he  would  like  to  laugh  and  to  cry  and  not  do 
either,  in  the  midst  of  his  conflicting  emotions,  but  ac- 
cept all  that  is  handed  to  him  with  a  sort  of  helplessness 
that  comes  to  a  man  when  he  finds  that  he  is  powerless 
in  the  hands  of  his  friends. 

"Mr.  Ryan  knew  that  the  Anaconda  club  was  going 
to  have  a  smoker  to  celebrate  the  appearance  of  the 
smoke  from  the  big  stack,  but  that  it  was  any  more  than 
one  of  those  jolly  informal  affairs  for  which  the  club  is 
noted  he  had  not  the  faintest  idea.  Nor  were  his  friends 
who  accompanied  him  from  Butte  to  this  city  any  wiser. 

"The  details  were  all  carried  out  to  a  nicety  and  in 
no  way  failed.  A  lookout  on  the  smelter  hill  gave  notice 
of  the  approach  of  the  train  bearing  the  visitors,  and 
the  whistles  took  up  the  signal  and  began  to  sound  their 
hearty  greeting.  One  by  one  the  sirens  of  the  foundry, 
the  brick  yard  and  the  down  town  industries  joined  in 
the  chorus.  When  the  train  pulled  into  the  Anaconda 
depot  there  was  the  Anaconda  Military  band  playing  a 
welcome,  and  a  throng  of  Anaconda  citizens,  with  a  re- 
ception committee  headed  by  Mayor  Evans,  to  greet  the 
visitor.  As  Mr.  Ryan  appeared  on  the  platform  of  the 
car  a  tremendous  cheer  drowned  the  music  of  the  band 
and  the  noise  of  the  whistles  and  all  else,  so  that  the 
program  was  carried  out  in  pantomime  so  far  as  the 
spectators  were  concerned,  and  Mayor  Evans  handed 
over  to  the  guest  a  mammoth  copper  key  to  the  city  of 
Anaconda. 

"A  carriage  gloriously  decked  in  the  national  colors 
and  the  famous  'copper  and  green'  was  in  waiting  and 
Mr.  Ryan  was  conducted  to  it  by  E.  P.  Mathewson,  and 


A    CITY    UNDER    COMBINE   RULE  317 

with  C.  F.  Kelly  and  John  Gillie  as  the  other  occupants, 
dropped  into  line  behind  the  band  that  headed  the  pro- 
cession to  the  Montana  hotel.  A  cheering  crowd  filled 
the  street  and  the  sidewalks,  making  slow  progress  to 
the  hotel.  Everybody  and  his  family  was  in  the  welcom- 
ing host,  from  the  merchants  and  their  clerks,  profes- 
sional men,  mill  and  smeltermen,  to  the  newsboys  with 
their  drum  and  flag. 

"It  was  the  intention  to  go  to  the  public  square,  but 
the  crowd  massed  about  the  hotel  and  a  stop  was  there- 
fore made  there,  and  from  the  steps  Mr.  Mathewson 
held  up  the  copper  key  and  called  for  attention. 

"Mr.  Ryan  needed  no  introduction,  and  as  he  stepped 
forward  it  was  the  signal  for  another  outburst  of  cheer- 
ing, that  continued  while  he  bowed  his  acknowledge- 
ments and  then  began  speaking  his  thanks  and  appre- 
ciation for  the  reception  accorded  him  by  the  people 
of  the  city.  He  was  deeply  touched  by  the  friendship 
and  hearty  greeting  accorded  to  him.  No  one  was  as  glad 
as  he  that  he  was  able  to  be  in  Montana  again,  and  that 
he  had  brought  the  good  news,  he  declared,  was  not  due 
to  himself,  but  to  the  kindness  of  the  directors  of  the 
company,  who  permitted  him  to  be  the  messenger  to  an- 
nounce the  resumption  of  the  work  at  the  mines  and 
smelters.  He  disclaimed  entirely  that  he  was  in  any 
way  responsible  for  the  resumption,  and  maintained  that 
the  officers  of  the  company  were  all  anxious  as  he  to 
start  work  going  again  in  the  production  of  copper. 

"Again  and  again  he  was  cheered,  till  the  flags  on 
the  staffs  fluttered  with  the  noise,  and  when  he  had 
closed  his  remarks  the  crowd  lingered  till  invited  by 
Mr.  Mathewson  to  return  later  in  the  evening  and  meet 
the  guest  of  the  evening  at  the  reception  tendered  by  the 
Anaconda  club. 


318  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

"Mr.  Mathewson  was  the  host  at  a  happy  little  din- 
ner party  given  in  the  Montana  Red  Room.  Covers 
were  laid  for  fourteen  and  the  following  guests  sat  at 
the  table :  John  D.  Ryan,  John  Gillie,  H.  A.  Galwey,  John 
Adams,  Captain  D'Gay  Stivers,  B.  H.  Dunshee,  Reno 
Sales,  C.  F.  Kelly,  Mayor  O.  C.  Evans,  Dr.  J.  F.  Spel- 
man,  J.  H.  Tolan,  J.  H.  Durston,  A.  C.  MacCallum  and 
Mr.  Mathewson. 

"The  'smoker'  given  by  the  Anaconda  club  was  held 
in  the  dining  room  of  the  hotel  and  the  clubrooms,  which 
were  thrown  open  to  the  public.  A  cosmopolitan  crowd 
gathered  and  filled  the  rotunda  of  the  hotel  long  before 
the  hour  announced,  and  when  the  dinner  party  was 
over,  Mr.  Ryan  held  a  reception  at  which  hundreds 
availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  of  taking  him  by 
the  hand  and  congratulating  him  upon  his  restoration 
to  health  and  to  thank  him  for  his  efforts  in  behalf  of 
Montana." 

"Among  those  present",  it  will  be  observed,  was 
Mayor  Evans  of  Anaconda,  who  was  a  brother  of  At- 
torney Evans  of  the  combine's  legal  department.  E.  P. 
Mathewson  was  the  manager  of  the  smelters  in  Ana- 
conda, as  well  as  of  the  town  generally.  C.  F.  Kelly  was 
chief  of  the  combine's  legal  department  in  Butte.  John 
Gillie  was  general  superintendent  of  the  Amalgamated 
Copper  company  in  Butte.  H.  A.  Galwey  was  manager 
of  the  Parrot  Mining  company  of  the  combine  in  Butte. 
John  Adams  held  a  managerial  position  in  the  Boston 
and  Montana  copper  mines  of  the  combine  in  Butte. 
Captain  D'Gay  Stivers  was  another  member  of  the  legal 
department  of  the  combine  in  Butte.  B.  H.  Dunshee 
was  another  mining  superintendent  of  the  combine  in 
Butte.  Reno  Sales  was  geologist  and  expert  witness  for 
the  combine  in  Butte.     Dr.  J.  F.  Spelman  was  the  com- 


A    CITY    UNDER    COMBINE    RULE  319 

pany  physician  in  Anaconda.  J.  H.  Durston  was  editor 
of  the  combine  organ  in  Anaconda.  A.  C.  MacCallum 
was  an  Anaconda  merchant  who  was  friendly  to  the 
company  on  occasions  like  that,  and  allowed  to  do  busi- 
ness in  town.  Mr.  John  D.  Ryan  at  that  time  was  man- 
aging director  of  the  Amalgamated  company  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Mining  company.  Un- 
prejudiced persons  must  be  convinced,  by  this  account, 
that  the  manner  in  which  these  subordinate  officials  of 
the  combine  "surprised"  Mr.  Ryan  with  an  outpouring 
of  helpless  employees  in  Anaconda  for  an  observance 
of  this  character,  was  one  long  to  be  remembered  by 
everybody  concerned  as  conclusive  demonstration  of  ex- 
isting joy  and  future  prosperity  in  Anaconda  forever 
more. 


An  Awakening  People  and  Signs 
of  Revolution 

Reform!   Reform!   the  swinish  rabble  cry — 

Meaning,  of  course,  rebellion,  blood,  and  riot — 
Audacious  rascals!  you,  my  Lords,  and  I, 

Know  'tis  their  duty  to  be  starved  in  quiet: 
But  they  have  grumbling  habits,  incompatible 

With  the  repose  of  our  august  community — 
They  see  that  good  things  are  with  us  come-at-able, 
And  therefore  slyly  watch  their  opportunity 
To  get  a  share; 
Yes,  they  declare 
That  we  are  not  God's  favorites  alone — 
That  they  have  rights  to  food,  and  clothes,  and  air, 
As  well  as  you,  the  Brilliants  of  a  throne! 
Oh!    indications   foul   of   revolution — 
The  villains  would  destroy  the  Constitution! 
— From   an    old    English    Broadside. 

The  newest  history  is  very  old.  The  first  recorded 
facts  of  man  enterprise,  written  in  symbols  or  carved  with 
tools  of  savage  invention  in  wood  or  stone,  then  were 
ancient  history — told  in  many  ways  and  many  times 
through  tradition  since  primitive  man,  in  abject  fear  and 
utter  ignorance,  was  drafted  under  the  inexorable  laws 
of  his  destiny  for  service  in  the  perpetual  war  between 
right  and  wrong,  between  freedom  and  bondage,  between 
justice  and  oppression,  between  humanity  and  selfishness, 
between  heart  and  mind,  between  immortal  longings  and 
mortal  ambitions,  for  human  progress  and  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  world.  Wherever  the  battle  rages  most 
fiercely,  however  discouraging  the  reverses  or  temporary 

[321] 


322  THE    COMICAL    HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

defeats,  whatever  the  delays  or  postponements  may  be, 
all  history  still  is  an  account  of  progress  and  a  prophecy 
of  triumph  for  reason  over  prejudice,  for  right  against 
might. 

Truth  does  not  yield  to  falsehood.  It  follows  the 
world's  criminals  like  a  bad  habit.  They  cannot  escape 
it  in  life.  After  death  it  puts  the  finishing  touches  on 
"self-made  men  who  worship  their  creators".  False  pro- 
fessions of  good  faith  will  not  serve  long  to  confuse  the 
truth  here;  and  there  is  no  authentic  record  in  any  his- 
tory, sacred  or  profane,  to  justify  the  hope  of  the  hypo- 
crite that  they  may  serve  hereafter.  In  the  commerce 
of  crime  there  have  been  found  graceless  ministers  of 
church  as  of  government,  abusing  power  and  betraying 
trust  to  peddle  special  privilege  at  a  price,  and  revolu- 
tions with  loss  of  power  to  offenders  have  followed  both 
offenses.  No  judge  of  competent  jurisdiction  has  been 
yet  found  to  nullify  God's  law  of  compensation  by  ad- 
judging crime  to  be  reasonable  and  punishment  unnec- 
essary in  the  enforcement  of  the  law. 

Pleading  against  denial  of  justice,  making  history 
now  more  than  century-old  in  Great  Britain,  recalling 
conditions  and  influences  and  results  growing  out  of 
the  dark  ages,  Curran  fitted  his  sublime  faith  in  man  and 
justice  and  God  for  useful  instruction  and  appeal  to  the 
powers  and  people  of  Montana  in  this  year  of  grace, 
when  he  said : 

"Turn  your  eyes  to  those  pages  of  governmental 
abandonment,  of  popular  degradation,  of  expiring  liberty 
and  merciless  and  sanguinary  persecution — to  that  mis- 
erable period  in  which  the  fallen  and  abject  state  of  man 
might  have  been  almost  an  argument  in  the  mouth  of 
the  atheist  and  the  blasphemer  against  the  existence 
of  an  all-just  and  an  all-wise  First  Cause,  if  the  glorious 


AN    AWAKENING    PEOPLE  323 

era  of  the  Revolution  that  followed  it  had  not  refuted 
the  impious  inference,  by  showing  that,  if  man  descends, 
it  is  not  in  his  own  proper  motion ;  that  it  is  with  labor 
and  with  pain ;  and  that  he  can  continue  to  sink  only 
until,  by  the  force  and  pressure  of  the  descent,  the  spring 
of  his  immortal  faculties  acquires  that  recuperative 
energy  and  effort  that  hurries  him  aloft — he  sinks,  but 
to  rise  again.  *  *  *  It  is  in  a  period  like  that,  that 
the  tyrant  prepares  for  an  attack  upon  the  people,  by 
destroying  the  liberty  of  the  press — by  taking  away  that 
shield  of  wisdom  and  of  virtue,  behind  which  the  people 
are  invulnerable — in  whose  pure  and  polished  convex, 
ere  the  lifted  blow  has  fallen,  he  beholds  his  own  image, 
and  is  turned  into  stone.  It  is  at  those  periods  that 
the  honest  man  dares  not  speak,  because  truth  is  too 
dreadful  to  be  told ;  it  is  then  humanity  has  no  ears,  be- 
cause humanity  has  no  tongue.  It  is  then  the  proud 
man  scorns  to  speak,  but,  like  a  physician  baffled  by  the 
wayward  excesses  of  a  dying  patient,  retires  indignant- 
ly from  the  bed  of  an  unhappy  wretch,  whose  ear  is  too 
fastidious  to  bear  the  sound  of  wholesome  advice,  whose 
palate  is  too  debauched  to  bear  the  salutary  bitter  of 
the  medicine  that  might  redeem  him,  and  therefore 
leaves  him  to  the  felonious  piety  of  the  slaves  that  talk 
to  him  of  life,  and  strip  him  before  he  is  cold." 

The  modern  corporate  combine  is  a  marvelous  organ- 
ization of  power.  It  has  been  greatly  improved  since 
Mr.  John  D.  Rockefeller's  pattern  of  corporate  monopoly 
earned  recognition  as  the  most  perfect  business  organi- 
zation in  the  world.  Excellence  in  efficient  use  of  power 
must  be  admitted  where  industry  and  commerce  and  ac- 
cumulated wealth  and  government,  all,  are  subjected  to 
one  control  and  management,  in  the  greatest  free  nation 
on  earth.     Yet  more  complete  mastery  of  peoples  and 


324  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

resources  has  been  obtained — and  lost.  Man-made  power 
has  not  been  devised  superior  to  the  Power  which  made 
man.  The  love  of  liberty  is  yet  stronger  than  the  love 
of  gold.  From  the  realization  of  injury  comes  the  re- 
sistance against  wrongs.  The  individual  is  helpless  in 
struggle  with  combine  power.  With  an  aroused  people, 
corporate  power  is  made  to  serve  public  interests  or  it 
is  overcome.  This  is  yet  history,  and  not  prediction,  in 
process  of  demonstration  even  in  much-conquered  Mon- 
tana. 

In  Montana,  as  in  many  other  states  of  the  union  in 
present  times,  there  is  much  discussion  of  principles  and 
men,  and  much  babble  about  radicals  and  conservatives, 
and  socialists  and  bosses,  and  constitutions  and  revo- 
lutions. There  is  fine  affectation  of  profound  regard  for 
constitutional  government  by  many  public  men  who 
have  been  perjured  witnesses  for  the  constitution  from 
the  time  when  they  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  swore 
to  uphold  and  defend  it.  It  is  the  policy  and  practice  of 
combine  bosses  to  discredit,  as  radicals  and  revolution- 
aries, those  citizens  who  may  have  the  temerity  to  be- 
lieve and  to  say  that  the  people  should  have  the  rights 
and  benefits  guaranteed  to  them  by  the  constitution.  If 
patriotic  public  men  are  not  thus  silenced,  efforts  are 
made  to  discredit  them  in  public  opinion,  and  to  keep 
them  from  public  service,  by  attaching  to  their  records 
the  stigma  of  combine  support  and  combine  service  in 
past  time;  as  if  it  had  been  possible  within  recent  years 
for  any  man  conspicuous  in  public  life  in  the  state  of 
Montana  to  have  escaped  either;  or  as  if  a  combine  man- 
agement would  waste  money  and  influence  in  opposing 
earnestly  any  capable  man  who  could  be  controlled 
by  it. 

The  leaven  of  independence  was  working  in  the  mass 
in  Montana  while  the  corporation  tools  were  perfecting 


AN    AWAKENING    PEOPLE  325 

their  control  of  organization  and  leadership.  As  early 
as  the  year  1909,  a  newspaper  solicitor  who  travelled 
throughout  the  state  reported,  as  in  evidence  of  the 
great  growth  of  population,  composed  of  reading  people, 
in  certain  agricultural  portions,  the  fact  that  news  agents 
had  told  of  multiplied  sales  of  popular  magazines  and 
periodicals.  Further  investigation  discovered  the  fact 
that  this  increased  demand  for  publications  from  out- 
side Montana  was  for  Collier's  Weekly  and  for  mag- 
azines described  as  Progressive.  The  following  winter, 
United  States  Senator  Joseph  M.  Dixon  had  joined  the 
insurgent  contingent  in  the  United  States  senate  and 
earned  the  undying  hatred  of  combine  managers  with 
successful  championship  of  legislation  to  lessen  discrim- 
ination and  insure  lower  charges  in  transportation  ser- 
vice. At  the  republican  state  convention  in  1910,  Senator 
Dixon  was  called  upon  to  address  the  delegates.  In 
that  address  he  said : 

"  'New   occasions   teach   new   duties, 

Time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth, 

We  must  ever  up  and  onward 

If  we  keep  abreast  of  truth.' 

"Notwithstanding  its  great  and  unparalleled  record 
of  human  achievement,  there  is  no  use  in  our  disguising 
the  fact  that  for  some  months  there  has  been  a  struggle 
going  on  for  the  control  of  party  leadership  and  the  con- 
trol and  direction  of  party  policies. 

"There  has  been  some  confusion  and  some  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  real  and  vital  issues  involved.  But,  as 
Senator  Cummins  of  Iowa  said  some  weeks  ago,  the 
contest  is  not  ephemeral. 

"While  we  cannot  all  agree  as  to  details,  the  general 
issue  involved  is  as  old  as  Magna  Charta,  and  as  certain 
as   that   involved   when   the   republican   party   was   first 


326  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

formed,  under  the  oaks  at  Jackson,  Michigan,  54  years 
ago — and  that  is  the  right  of  the  individual  citizen  for 
equal  opportunity  and  against  the  insidious  encroach- 
ments of  special  interests.  It  is  the  old  contest  between 
the  progressive  liberal  and  the  Bourbon  reactionary. 

"Theodore  Roosevelt  epitomized  the  whole  matter 
when  he  declared  for  the  'square  deal'  not  only  in  pri- 
vate life,  but  in  public  legislation.  Generally  speaking 
it  is  the  old  doctrine  that  public  office  is  a  sacred  public 
trust,  to  be  administered  conscientiously  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole  people,  to  the  best  of  the  representative's 
ability,  and  not  for  the  financial  advantage  of  the  pow- 
erful combinations  that  seek  for  special  privilege,  for 
personal,  selfish  gain  and  aggrandizement. 

"There  is  a  new  spirit  that  is  arising  in  modern  pol- 
itics. The  old  system  of  special  favors  to  the  favored 
few  is  about  to  become  a  thing  of  the  past  in  the  politi- 
cal life  of  this  nation.  , 

"Concretely  put,  it  means  that  no  longer  shall  there 
be  permitted  combinations  that  shall  control  the  national 
resources  of  all  the  people  for  the  enrichment  of  the  few, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  many. 

"It  means  that  the  few  shall  not  monopolize  the 
coal  and  timber  and  water  power  and  transportation  of 
this  nation  without  some  kind  of  governmental  regula- 
tion. It  means  that  the  people  of  Montana  are  not  going 
to  sit  supinely  down  and  allow  transportation  systems 
to  deliberately  swell  their  capitalization  by  watering 
their  stocks  and  bond  issues,  and  then  compel  you  to 
pay  perpetual  tribute  on  ready-made  dollars  in  the 
shape  of  freight  and  passenger  charges. 

"It  means  that  the  people  of  Montana  do  not  propose 
to  have  transportation  companies  continue  to  charge  us 
twice  the  price  of  transporting  our  goods  that  they  do 


AN    AWAKENING    PEOPLE  327 

Seattle  and  Portland  for  double  the  service.  It  means 
the  abolition  of  that  form  of  cheap,  petty  graft  known 
as  'railroad  passes'.  It  means  the  creation  of  public 
service  commissions  to  regulate  the  capitalization  of  pub- 
lic service  corporations  and  the  proper  regulation  of 
their  charges  to  a  helpless  public. 

"To  get  more  directly  in  touch  with  their  represen- 
tatives at  Washington,  it  means  that  the  people  of  this 
country  are  going  to  change  their  former  method  of 
electing  their  United  States  senators,  and  in  the  future 
they  will  name  not  only  their  senators  but  every  other 
official  in  some  kind  of  a  direct  primary  of  the  individual 
voter,  and  not  leave  the  selection  of  their  senators  to  the 
determination  of  'legislative  jackpots',  such  as  they  have 
had  recently  in  Illinois,  or  even  here  in  Montana. 

"For  my  part  I  believe  that  the  individual  voter  has 
the  same  right  to  know  whom  he  is  voting  for  to  repre- 
sent him  in  the  federal  senate,  when  he  votes  for  the 
member  of  the  legislature,  as  he  has  to  know  who  he  is 
voting  for  for  president  when  he  casts  his  vote  for  a 
presidential  elector. 

"It  is  my  hope  that  the  republicans  of  Montana  will 
not  find  themselves  out  of  touch  and  sympathy  with  the 
progressive  republican  sentiment  in  other  states.  I  want 
the  republicans  of  Montana  to  help  swell  the  'chorus  of 
the  Union'  in  their  demand  for  twentieth  century  pro- 
gressive policies  and  political  methods. 

"The  people  of  Montana  are  not  Bourbon — they  are 
not  radical — but  they  are  progressive  and  they  believe 
in  the  principles  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  republicanism. 

"The  result  of  the  contest  within  the  ranks  of  the 
republican  party  is  as  certain  as  the  working  of  the  laws 
of  gravity." 

This  was  recognized  as  treason  to  government  of 
Montana   from   New  York,   but   it  was  cheered  bv  too 


328  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

many  delegates  to  be  resented  publicly  with  a  campaign 
pending  involving  the  return  of  another  United  States 
senator  which  the  corporate  combine  was  intent  upon 
retaining  in  the  service.  The  defeat  of  that  senator  in 
the  succeeding  election  by  the  votes  of  republicans  for 
democratic  candidates,  in  all  those  agricultural  counties 
where  public  journals  independent  of  combine  control 
had  shown  increased  circulation,  was  significant  of  an 
awakening  among  the  people  to  some  of  the  dangers 
of  misgovernment.  The  word  had  been  passed  to  trusted 
lieutenants  that  Mr.  Dixon  was  marked  for  defeat  in 
1913  and  the  year  1911  was  spent  by  political  agents  of 
the  copper  combine  in  preparing  forces  for,  and  in  re- 
moving obstacles  to,  that  result. 

The  contest  for  control  of  the  first  Chicago  conven- 
tion in  1912  presented  possibilities  in  complications  in 
Montana  which  were  embarrassing  to  the  political  ma- 
chine operators.  The  copper  combine  was  as  hostile  to 
Mr.  Roosevelt  as  to  Mr.  Dixon,  apart  from  many  rea- 
sons for  its  gratitude  to  President  Taft.  Senator  Dixon 
had  become  manager  of  the  Roosevelt  campaign  in  the 
country  at  large,  which  insured  his  absence  from  the 
state ;  but  Mr.  Roosevelt  as  a  candidate  had  been  always 
popular  in  Montana,  the  progressive  republicans  in  the 
state  had  commenced  organization  work,  and  there  was 
reason  to  doubt  the  outcome  of  a  test  of  strength  by 
popular  vote.  Attempt  was  made  to  insure  the  repub- 
lican party  machine  leaders  against  danger  of  retirement 
from  the  organization  by  ostentatious  professions  of 
support  for  Roosevelt  by  some  of  them,  at  the  same 
time  that  the  machine  was  set  in  motion  to  produce  a 
delegation  for  Taft.  The  state  central  committee  was 
called  together,  and,  under  direction  of  notorious  tools 
of  the  corporate  interests,  was  manipulated  to  produce 


AN    AWAKENING    PEOPLE  329 

an  endorsement  of  Mr.  Taft  and  a  declaration  against  the 
calling  of  presidential  preference  primaries.  The  emerg- 
ency was  too  great  to  rely  upon  duplicity  when  the  peo- 
ple everywhere  were  manifesting  signs  of  wisdom  re- 
specting what  was  going  on.  On  March  25th,  The  Daily 
Missoulian  printed  a  statement  signed  by  Senator  Dixon, 
and  sent  from  Washington  by  wire,  which  closed  as 
follows : 

"The  issue  in  Montana  is  clearly  defined.  Shall  the 
special  interests  which  know  no  party  allegiance,  acting 
in  our  own  state  through  the  Amalgamated  Copper 
company  and  its  allies,  control  the  republican,  as  well 
as  the  democratic  party,  or  shall  the  republican  party 
be  controlled  by  the  people  themselves?  There  can  be 
no  compromise  in  the  situation  which  confronts  us.  It 
is  a  struggle  between  two  diametrically  opposed  and 
conflicting  ideals  and  interests.  There  is  and  can  be 
no  middle  ground.  The  action  of  the  majority  of  the 
state  committee  at  Helena  has  forced  the  issue,  'Let  him 
that  hath  no  stomach  for  the  fight  depart'." 

The  combine  thus  was  challenged  to  battle  in  the 
open,  but  it  was  able  to  prevent  engaging  with  the  forces 
of  the  people  in  a  fair  contest.  The  old  caucus  and  con- 
vention system,  with  its  unequal  power  to  organization 
and  its  abundant  opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  cor- 
rupt influence,  produced  a  Taft  delegation  by  a  sub- 
stantial convention  majority  in  the  state;  and  the  com- 
bine influences  emphasized  their  power  by  preventing 
the  election  of  Roosevelt  delegates  from  Senator  Dixon's 
home  county,  in  his  absence.  This  victory  was  soon 
proved  a  costly  one  for  the  victors,  exclusive  of  the 
manifestly  large  money  expense  which  it  involved.  They 
were  still  confronted  with  the  same  Dixon  and  the  same 
Roosevelt,  more  determined  in  purpose  and  more  ener- 


330  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

getic  in  action  because  of  the  character  of  the  campaign 
against  them,  and  which  had  furnished  an  abundance  of 
new  ammunition  against  their  enemies.  The  valuable 
party  lines  and  the  precious  party  organizations  in  Mon- 
tana had  been  destroyed  and  nobody  could  tell  the  con- 
sequences, beyond  the  fact  that  the  combine  interests 
sustained  the  loss.  How  badly  the  corporate  political 
managers  were  frightened  by  the  results  of  their  own 
victory  was  shown  to  some  extent  by  their  conduct. 
While  the  delegates  elected  at  a  Progressive  state  con- 
vention, called  on  short  notice  and  representative  of 
nearly  every  county  in  the  state,  were  in  Chicago  assist- 
ing in  the  nomination  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  as  the 
candidate  of  a  new  party,  the  organs  of  the  combine  in 
Montana  were  endeavoring  to  confuse  progressive 
voters  with  reports  that  the  combine  republican  machine 
managers  were  encouraging  the  candidacy  of  well 
known  progressive  republicans,  who  had  not  joined  the 
new  party  movement,  for  the  most  prominent  offices  in 
the  state.  These  reports  suggested  Judge  E.  K.  Cheadle, 
whom  the  combine  had  kept  from  the  federal  bench 
with  opposition  and  misrepresentation  and  abuse,  for  a 
place  on  the  supreme  court  bench ;  with  Judge  Henry 
C.  Smith,  who  was  to  create  this  vacancy  in  the  supreme 
court  by  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office,  as  a  prime 
favorite  candidate  of  the  "stand-patters"  to  succeed  Mr. 
Dixon  in  the  United  States  senate;  and  W.  F.  Meyer,  on 
whose  political  trail  Managing  Director  John  G.  Morony 
had  promised  to  camp  as  long  as  he  lived,  might  have 
a  pet  ambition  realized  by  a  nomination  to  congress, 
without  effort  or  even  asking.  Such  suggestions  as 
these  might  be  charged  to  democratic  organs  as  little 
by-plays  for  democratic  advantage,  if  republican  and 
democratic  organs  alike  in  Montana  were  not  published 
in  the  same  interests  with  a  common  purpose. 


AN    AWAKENING   PEOPLE  331 

The  progressive  sentiment,  the  sentiment  in  favor  of 
a  restoration  of  control  of  government  through  the  peo- 
ple, in  Montana  as  elsewhere,  is  a  public  sentiment,  and 
not  the  property  of  any  individual  or  leader,  whether  he 
be  for  or  against  combines  or  corporations  being  vested 
with  powers  of  monopoly  or  of  government.  The  voter 
who  knows  that  he  has  been  often  fooled,  it  will  be  more 
difficult  to  fool  again.  In  a  real  conflict  between  the 
combines  and  the  people  the  only  place  which  an  am- 
bitious man  will  seek  wisely  as  a  compromise  candidate 
is  one  in  the  political  graveyard.  In  any  right  align- 
ment of  the  voters  in  Montana  under  existing  conditions 
the  two  old  parties  is  the  Company,  and  the  third  is  the 
crowd.  As  authority,  or  at  least  a  competent  witness 
in  respect  to  awakening  public  sentiment,  take  a  quota- 
tion from  Col.  Sam.  Gordon,  grown  old  as  a  "regular" 
in  republican  party  service,  and  easily  the  ablest  edi- 
torial writer  on  political  subjects  within  the  state.  In 
his  "Daily  Yellowstone  Journal",  following  the  renom- 
ination  of  Mr.  Taft,  Col.  Gordon  reviewed  the  situation 
and  conditions  with  this  conclusion: 

"As,  on  the  first  issue  of  January  of  this  year,  The 
Journal  announced  its  adherence  to  Theodore  Roosevelt 
if  he  becomes  a  candidate,  so  it  now  announces  its  fealty 
to  the  progressive  cause,  as  opposed  to  the  tenets  of  re- 
publicanism as  personified  in  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Taft. 
With  a  strong  preference  still  for  "Teddy",  the  man 
who  gets  the  progressive  nomination  will  be  our  man — 
and  it  is  just  as  well  to  have  it  understood  that  progres- 
sivism  in  Montana  presupposes  and  embraces  opposition 
to  the  Amalgamated  and  all  its  works.  In  fact  to  all 
of  us  who  call  ourselves  Montanans,  it  is  really  of  more 
importance  that  the  tentacles  of  our  Octupus  be  clipped, 
than  that  a  progressive  candidate  be  elected  to  the  pres- 


332  THE    COMICAL   HISTORY    OF    MONTANA 

idency.  The  nation  will  survive — if  it  has  to — another 
term  of  conservative  big  business,  but  Montana  can- 
not, must  not,  stand  for  any  further  extension  of  the 
influence  of  the  big  copper  combine.  The  revelation  of 
its  sinister  power  in  the  far  outlying  counties,  in  the 
presidential  convention  campaign  this  spring,  must  have 
been  a  surprise  to  many  and  a  warning  to  all  who  hope 
to  live  free  men  in  this  state." 


"Is  there  not 
Some  hidden  thunder  in  the  stores  of  heaven, 
Red  with  uncommon  wrath,  to  blast  the  men 
Who  owe  their  greatness  to  their  country's  ruin?" 


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